Protecting the Protector
by quiet-heart
Summary: When a friend of Abby's shows up on Gibbs' doorstep in the early hours of the morning, Gibbs finds himself dealing with a vet nurse with a big heart, and a variety of animals. She's also a witness to a murder, and someone knows that she knows.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The little pup yipped as Skylar 'Sky' Raven worked to unlock the door to the veterinary office, where she worked. It was late at night, and normally she'd be at home, taking care of her menagerie of pets, but here she was.

"Yeah, I know, Brubba, but it's going to take me a few seconds," she soothed as she headed for the building alarm system to turn it off, a large German Shepherd hot on her heels. Also snuggled against her, in a baby sling, were three more German Shepherd puppies, all belonging to Artemis, the German Shepherd beside her. Beside her, Artemis whined, hearing her babies. It was feeding time and her babies were hungry.

Except for the fact that Brubba had a condition known as secondary cleft palate, and had to be tube fed in order to get his milk to his stomach and not in his lungs or up his nose. Surgery would later correct the problem, but he was too young for that right now. And Sky had run out of puppy formula before she'd planned on it. Which was why she was at the vet clinic in the early hours of the morning.

She stared at the alarm system. Someone had already turned it off. "That's strange," she muttered.

Artemis growled. Something was wrong, and she smelled something she didn't like.

"Easy, girl," Sky soothed, patting the dog. She grabbed Artemis's collar, just in case, and slowly moved down the hall to the main part of the building. There wasn't supposed to be anyone there at this time of night, but her boss, Staff Sergeant Yun, had been acting funny for the last few days, so there was that.

It was then, in the main surgery area, that she heard raised voices. One of them was Staff Sergeant Yun, and he was arguing with another male.

"There! The bullet is out, now get out!"

There was the sound of flesh striking flesh, followed by a clattering noise of a body hitting metal things and then the floor.

"I don't think so," the second male snarled. "You don't get to tell me what to do, chink!"

Sky had her hands full trying to stop Artemis from growling and barking, while trying to see what was going on through the swing door windows. "Ruhig!" she hissed, and Artemis, clearly not happy, quieted.

"You do as you're damn well told, or we will hurt your family," the man continued. He was wearing dark green and brown camo, with his face painted black, and he was wrapping gauze around a stitched up left forearm. Beside him, guns clearly visible, were three other men in matching clothing and face paint. One of them had removed the sleeve of his long-sleeve shirt, and Sky could clearly see two crossed hammers on his tanned bicep. She didn't know what it meant, but she was sure it was important.

"Get rid of him," one of the other men said, jerking his head.

"No! You said if I helped you, you would leave me alone!" Staff Sergeant Yun yelled.

And Sky watched in horror as a third man pulled out a gun and shot Staff Sergeant Yun in the head.

He fell silently, blood spraying the equipment behind him. She screamed, and Artemis barked.

And the bad guys saw her. With her bright pink hair, it was kinda hard not to.

Everyone froze. Then the leader yelled, "Get her!"

And Sky grabbed the leash that was on her belt, which should have been attached to Artemis (but she was such a good dog, she didn't really need it) and threaded it through the door handles as fast as she could.

"Don't look at the bad guys, don't look at the bad guys," she chanted, tying a square knot as fast as she could. The doors slammed, nearly throwing her off her feet, but the knot held. She looked up, and saw two very angry men looking back at her.

"Hi guys!" she quipped, waving cheerfully. "Bye guys!"

And she took off running, Artemis hot on her heels.

"Baby formula! Need it now!" she yelped to herself, dashing through the building, which was a bit of a big building, considering who they serviced. "Don't know how long that door's gonna hold, what with all the guns and all that (don't think about that! Just get the damn formula!)" She quickly found the storage room where the puppy formula was, grabbed one of the garbage bags and grabbed three containers of formula, throwing the formula into the garbage bag. "Pas Auf!" she told Artemis, who promptly went to the door and started guarding it, tail wagging. "And whoop! Thar she blows!" A crashing noise reached her ears as the surgery doors were finally broken through.

"Find her!" someone yelled.

"Time to go!" she told Artemis, who barked in agreement.

She turned off the room light, just as someone tried the door. "Oh doggy doo-doo!" she hissed, throwing herself against the door. An aerosol container of room freshener caught her eyes. "Spray to the eyes, makes them cries," she said softly, grabbing the container, just as the door creaked open.

The attacker screamed when he got an eyeful of the spray. Then he was moaning when Sky kicked him in the groin, and then nothing when she introduced his face to the door.

"Night-night asshat," she said cheerfully, dragging the unconscious man into the room. After grabbing his wallet, she then locked the door, and, garbage bag full of formula in hand, took off running for the back door.

Then she had a new problem. He was about six foot something and ugh-lee with his face paint and bald head. Oh, and he had a gun.

"Back off, jarhead, or I'll let her go and she'll attack!" Sky threatened, holding on to Artemis' collar, which was a bit of an effort, considering the way the powerful German Shepard was barking, growling, and lunging against Sky.

"You're bluffing, bitch," the man sneered.

"Yeah? Wanna find out how much her bite hurts? And because you just killed Dr. Yun, there ain't gonna be nobody around to fix your little boo-boos. Oh, and that was her leash that was in the door. No leash, big trouble." Sky let go of Artemis just a little, and the dog lunged, growling.

The man took a step towards her, and Sky let her go. Artemis didn't attack (she wouldn't unless she heard the command) but she stepped forward. The man stepped forward again.

"Fass!" Sky yelled, and the man's eyes went wide as Artemis, growling, attacked. The gun went flying, both man and dog went stumbling into the nearby metal shelves, and everything came down. A metal pan across the guy's face sent him out, and she grabbed his wallet too.

"Hier!" she told Artemis, and they both dashed down the hall, slamming out the door and heading for her car. "Good girl. Really good girl," she huffed, seeing two more of those bad guys leave the building, throwing the formula in the car, and Artemis jumping in after. "Time to run like a rabbit with a dog on my tail! Sorry for the crowded condition, pups!" Her side mirror shattered as she tore out of the parking lot. "You're paying for that, buster!" she yelled. "Mad woman driving crazy car time!"

It wasn't until she was several miles away before she was able to slow down. "Thank you, Almighty Lord, for Your protection. Now this girl needs a store with water, and a phone call to a friend, 'cause this girl is scared out of her teeny tiny little thong undies," she prayed.

It was two o'clock in the morning, and someone was banging on his door.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," Special Agent Jethro Gibbs grumped. The second he unlocked his door was the second a walking tornado with bright pink hair blew in.

"Hi, I'm Sky, and Abby says ' _Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, you gotta keep her safe! She's a really good friend and fantastic with animals and call me as soon you can!_ ' Oh, and that's Artemis, and she really needs to feed her babies, and I really need to feed Brubba," the woman said, a large German Shepherd dog following her. She quickly locked the door, took off the baby sling she was carrying, which had strange whimpering and whining noises coming from it, and went into the living room.

Gibbs stared at her in confusion. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded.

"Abby said I could come here, that I'd be safe here with you and you didn't have any problems with dogs," Sky said, kneeling on the floor near the couch and removing her baby sling.

"You're a friend of Abby's?" Gibbs asked, confused.

"Yup. She and me were besties before she left for Jolly Ol' England after the death of that really cute English guy," Sky said, carefully removing four German Shepherd puppies from within the sling. Artemis flopped down on the floor and Sky gave her three of the puppies, who started nursing. The fourth puppy she gave to Gibbs, who took it (not that he had a choice) and removed a can of formula from a garbage bag. Making fast work of a bottle of water, a syringe, a rubber tube, the formula, a coffee mug, and Gibbs' microwave, she was soon tube feeding the puppy she had called Brubba.

"What the hell is going on?" Gibbs demanded.

"Well, I'm a vet nurse for the Army. I'm not actually in the Army, but Staff Sergeant Yun liked me, so he hired me. We look after everyone's pets, but especially the ones on the base, and we get all kinds. Well I ran out of formula for Brubba a little faster than I had planned on, so I had to go to the clinic, but I couldn't just leave Artemis and her kiddies behind because my neighbours complain about the whining. So anyway, I get to the clinic and find the alarm already off," Sky said. "So I go in there and I hear Dr. Yun yelling about something in the surgery room and I get there in time to see a couple of ass-ugly (actually asses are kinda cute, especially the donkey kind, except when they kick) anyway really ugly guys dressed in black paint and brown and green camo clothes. They came after me, I clobbered two of them, left one of them in the storage room, and Artemis got a bite out of the other one. Oh, and I took their wallets." She reached into her kangaroo sweatshirt pockets and took out two wallets, which she handed to Gibbs.

"What about Dr. Yun?" Gibbs asked.

"Oh. Umm," Sky said, her eyes going a bit wide. "Um, the leader told the other guy to shoot him. He's, umm, he's, well, he's dead."

"He's dead?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah. Really messy head shot kinda dead," Sky said. "Oh boy. Umm, you wouldn't happen to have some coffee, would you? Abby said you were a Marine and you know a thing or two about coffee and I really could use some Marine-strength coffee. Oh, and um, they saw me." She tugged at her hair, which had a buzz cut around her head at ear-level down to her neck, with the rest of her hair straight, but no less bright pink. Gibbs also spotted a seahorse in the shell of her ear, a dragon head on the back of her hand, and he was sure he saw something on the back of her neck when she headed for his kitchen.

Gibbs flipped open the two wallets and his eyes went wide. One of the wallets had a military identification card in it. "Private James Brunno, USMC" he said. He held up the identification card. "That him?"

"Paint his face black and it might be. What color are his eyes?" Sky asked, carefully removing the tube from Brubba, who wiggled in protest. She then stuck her finger in the puppy's mouth, letting him suck on it for a few seconds.

"Brown."

"That would be the guy I left in the storage room, after I sprayed his eyes with room freshner," Sky said. "The second guy had blue eyes. Oh, and I think he was bald. And in a lot of pain from where Artemis bit him."

"Okay." Gibbs held up a second military identification card. "Private First Class Frederick Cameron, also a Marine. And he has blue eyes."

"That's him. Oh, and one of the other guys, he had stitches in his left forearm, and two crossed hammers on his upper arm.

"Two crossed hammers?"

"Two crossed hammers. Coffee?" she asked hopefully, giving Artemis her baby back.

Gibbs set the wallets down and headed for the kitchen. When he came back, it was to see Sky petting Artemis, who had her head in her lap, and tears rolling down her face. She looked up at Gibbs. "Why did they have to kill him?" she asked sadly, accepting the coffee he handed her. "He did as they told him to, even when they threatened his family. Abby says you're really good at what you do. Are you?" she asked, as he sat down beside her.

"I try to be," he said. He reached for his phone, which had been in his pocket, and called the local police. After asking them to check the clinic, and giving them the address, he also called CID and asked them to check on Dr. Yun's family, explaining he'd received a tip that his family might be in danger. Then he called Abby.

" _Gibbs! Did Sky make it okay? Is she safe?_ " Abby demanded.

"She's safe, but what color is her hair?" he asked.

" _Bright pink. Oh, and she has a seahorse in the shell of her left ear and a really cool dragon tattoo on her right arm. You can see the dragon head on her wrist and hand_ ," Abby said.

"That's her."

" _She's a really nice person, and she knows animals like nobody's business. Take care of her, Gibbs, please_."

"I will, Abs, I will."

" _Oh, and you might want to run a q-tip on Artemis' teeth. If she bit the bad guy, there's lots of DNA evidence right there_ ," Abby said.

"I'll do that. Take care," he said, ending the call.

He then headed for his bathroom and grabbed a few q-tips, and then a baggie from his kitchen. "DNA evidence," he explained. "Artemis bit him."

"And you think you can get evidence from her teeth," Sky said, wiping her face. "Okay. Give," she said, waggling her fingers at him. He gave her a q-tip and she quickly swabbed the German Shepherd's teeth.

"What's wrong with Brubba?" Gibbs asked, curious as to why she'd been tube feeding the little guy.

"He's got a genetic condition called secondary cleft palate," Sky explained, before yawning heavily. "Basically means the roof of his mouth didn't seal properly, and if that happens, then he can get milk up his nose, or down into his lungs. When he hits about three or four months, he'll have surgery to fix that, but for now, he gets the tube to the tummy." She yawned. "I really need to go to my apartment in the morning. I have a couple of friends I have to feed in the morning."

"Get some rest," Gibbs said, leading the tired woman upstairs.

"Okay. Can Artemis stay down here? She's a really good guard dog," Sky said.

"Sure."

"Artemis, bleib! Good girl!" Sky said. The dog wagged her tail, and settled down.

Once he was sure Sky was settled, Gibbs settled down on the couch. Several hours later, he was woken up to a wet nose in his ear, and the feeling of something tugging on his pillow. He looked down, eyes wide, and discovered Artemis looking at him, head cocked, and one of the puppies pulling on his pillow.

And his cell phone was ringing.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Yeah, Gibbs," Gibbs grunted.

" _Agent Gibbs, it's Staff Sergeant Jack Cooper_ , CID," a male voice said. " _I understand you gave us a tip regarding Staff Sergeant Yun and his family_."

"That's right, I did," Gibbs said. "Are they okay?"

" _They're okay, just badly frightened. Staff Sergeant Yun, however, is missing_." Cooper said.

"My informant said he was shot last night, at the vet clinic he works at," Gibbs said.

" _And that's the problem. We have no body. Did your informant say where he was shot?_ "

Gibbs watched as a sleepy Sky wandered into the living room, scratching her head. He tucked his phone under his chin and asked, "Where was Staff Sergeant Yun killed?"

"Main surgery room, farthest right table from the doors," Sky said, shivering. "I heard Dr. Yun telling someone the bullet was out and to get out. The guy with the stitched up forearm called him a chink and said he didn't get to tell him what to do. Then another guy told a third guy to get rid of him. Dr. Yun protested, saying that they said that if he did what he was told, they would leave him and his family alone, which they threatened to hurt." She rubbed her eyes. "Head shot. Blood was everywhere."

"Main surgery room, farthest right table from the doors. My informant says they made quite a mess, and that it was a head shot," Gibbs told Cooper.

"Oh, and the alarm was turned off when it shouldn't have been, and I think the doors were probably damaged because I used Artemis' leash to tie it shut, and I heard them breaking it open," Sky said, rubbing the German Shepherd's head. She wandered into the kitchen to get Brubba's formula ready as he was starting to protest about his empty tummy again.

"Surgery doors should have been damaged, possibly broken dog leash, and the alarm was turned off when it shouldn't have been," Gibbs said. "What do you got?"

" _A mess, but no body_ ," Cooper said. " _Is your informant willing to come down and walk me through the place?_ "

"On the condition that my informant can be kept safe," Gibbs said.

" _It depends on what I think your informant did,_ " Cooper said. " _Your informant could be my murder suspect. Let me know when you're on the way_." And he hung up.

Sky came back into the living room and started feeding Brubba. "Could you let Artemis out so she can have a piddle please?" she asked.

Gibbs did so, watching as the dog did her thing before coming back inside, flopping down on the floor and letting her babies have their breakfast. "How are you holding?" he asked.

"Honestly? Scared out of my itty bitty g-string undies. Even dealing with a copperhead snake didn't scare me this bad," Sky admitted. She shivered again. "I keep seeing Dr. Yun falling, like a puppet that had just had its strings cut. He had his eyes open when he died, y'know? Does blood stain? 'Cause it was all over the wall and the equipment, and that's a sterile area, and if we can't get the blood off the walls and the equipment, then we can't use that area for surgery anymore, and that was something Dr. Yun was really good at. And Dr. Yun was letting me assist with the surgeries, which was really cool. Is his family safe? I met his wife once, a really nice lady with really cool taste in jewelry. She was the one who designed my dragon tattoo when I mentioned I wanted to get one on my arm, 'cause I thought they were cool." Gibbs stared at her and she blushed. "I know. I talk, a lot. I'll shut up now. Really." And she mimed zipping her lips shut. Gibbs just shook his head in amusement.

"CID Staff Sergeant Cooper wanted to know if you would walk through the vet clinic and show them what happened, because there's no body," Gibbs said, watching as Sky shivered again. He didn't tell her that Cooper thought she might be a suspect.

"Kinda not relishing that idea, but okay. But I really need to go by my place and feed my zoo. Won't take long. Promise. An hour, at the most. And clean clothes. I hate sleeping in my clothes," Sky said.

"We can do that," Gibbs said.

"Great! Umm, do you have any issues with birds, lizards, or snakes?" she asked.

"No. Why?" He got his answer a short while later. "That is one big lizard," he said, eyeing the red ackie Sky had just taken out of a fifty-five gallon tank.

Sky smiled proudly. "This is Captain Jack. He's just under the pound mark and is about two years old. I got him from a kid who got bored with him. Oh, and he had more money than brains." Argo, the cockatiel, whistled, demanding his fair share of attention. "No, I haven't forgotten you, you silly bird," Sky told the bird, grinning at the small parrot, who was bobbing his head while on his perch outside of his cage.

Sky also had a large rosy boa she called, predictably, Rose, that was about three feet long, housed in a thirty-gallon tank, and just as docile as Captain Jack. Once her pets were fed and had received some one-on-one attention from her, she grabbed a quick shower and a change of clothes. She now wore black jeans, black Victorian booties, a blue tank top, and a very large black hoodie, whereas yesterday she'd been wearing grey sweatpants and a blue and grey Washington Capitals sweatshirt.

"So, what's the game plan, sir?" she asked.

"We go to your clinic and meet up with Staff Sergeant Cooper, and you answer his questions, and we go from there," Gibbs said. "Think you can cover up that hair of yours?" he asked.

She went to her hallway closet and pulled out a black knit beanie, pulling it over her head and covering her hair. Then she pulled up her hoodie over that. "That work? If it doesn't, I can always add a huge pair of black sunglasses and gloves."

"Can you leave the dog?" Gibbs asked.

"Not if we're gone longer than two hours. Brubba needs to be fed about every three hours and he's approaching hour number three pretty fast," Sky said. "And no, there's no one else to take care of him and Artemis. Besides, Artemis is a pretty good attack dog. She's actually a trained attack dog, and she's not actually mine, but the couple she usually lives with had to go out of town on a family emergency and should be back in the next two days, and because I'm not allergic to dogs and she likes me, well, I'm responsible for her and her babies. Oh, and she was there when the not-so-fun-thingie went down."

Gibbs blinked, trying to process her rapid speech, which he was beginning to realize was just how she talked. Then he got another call. It was from McGee, who had been told by Gibbs to pick up the wallets and q-tip once he and Sky had left, and run both.

" _Kasie's still running the DNA, but we may have a problem,_ " McGee said. " _Local LEO's found a body this morning, and he matches the description of Private Frederick Cameron, complete with bite marks on his forearm, no wallet, black face paint, and brown and green camo clothes._ "

"What happened to him?" Gibbs asked.

" _Looks like he was shot. I let the detective investigating his death know he was a person of interest and he turned the case over to us. We're at the scene now and I just confirmed his prints,_ " McGee said.

"Okay. I'm on my way to the vet clinic with my witness. Do what you can, keep an eye out, and keep me posted," Gibbs said. He snapped his phone shut.

"Is there a problem?" Sky asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. Private Cameron just turned up," Gibbs said, watching as she snapped a leash on Artemis and bundled up her babies again, this time with plenty of formula.

"That doesn't sound too good," she said.

"It's not. Someone decided he was a liability," Gibbs said. "And since he was a Marine, you're my witness."

"Oh goodie! Abby always talked about you guys! Is Nick Torres as cute as he sounds?" Sky asked as they locked the door to her apartment.

"I wouldn't know; I'm a guy," Gibbs said, causing her to snigger. She wasn't sniggering a short time later, as she froze when she saw the clinic, memories from the previous night rushing back.

Artemis whined. There were strange people around, and strange smells, and a strange atmosphere, and she didn't like it.

"There," Sky said, pointing to a shelving unit that had been partially destroyed, with equipment scattered about. "That's where Artemis attacked the second guy."

Staff Sergeant Cooper made a note, and followed the group through the building. He was about the same height as Gibbs, wearing a nice dark blue suit and tie, and his skin, face, and hair coloring suggested either a Mexican or Spanish ancestry.

Sky stopped in front of a door and pointed to it. "That's the storage room where I sprayed the first guy in the face with the room freshener. Then I kicked him in the goolies and introduced his face to Mr. Door. Oh, and while he was counting the pretty birdies, I locked him in here."

"Why'd you come in here?" Cooper asked.

"Needed puppy formula for Brubba, 'cause he can't eat without a bit of extra help," Sky said, rubbing her arms. "He's got to get his meals to his tummy through a tube, or it goes up his nose or into his lungs."

"Okay. I think," Cooper said. "So why were you here so late?"

"Ran out of the formula a little faster than I'd predicted, and I'm not about to starve a poor little puppy like Brubba, especially when it's not his fault," Sky said, moving down the hall towards the surgery room. "There's blood on the floor. Maybe that's why you guys can't find Dr. Yun."

Cooper and Gibbs stared at the floor, and Gibbs could just see faint blood streaks. "How can you tell?" Cooper asked suspiciously.

"Because Dr. Yun and Dr. Marks insisted on keeping the floors eat-your-ramen-noodles-off-it-clean," Sky said absently. "Dr. Marks could spot a drop of blood a mile away and he wasn't very nice about it if the whole place wasn't sterilized good and proper." She didn't see Cooper gesture at a crime scene technician and quickly whisper about the blood. Instead, feeling as if her feet were wrapped in thirty pounds of lead, she made her way towards the main surgery room.

The doors were sitting awkwardly on their hinges, and Sky spotted Artemis' leash on the floor. "There's her leash. I tied that thing in a square knot as fast as I could. 'Course, the two guys hit the doors pretty hard, but that's a pretty strong leash." She stopped, shivering again, feeling her eyes fill with tears as memories played through her mind. "I heard what was going on and looked through the windows. Dr. Yun was over there, and so were the guys, four of them. One of them was on that table and I think Dr. Yun had just stitched him up. 'There! The bullet is out, now get out!' he said. The second guy said that he didn't think so, and that Dr. Yun didn't get to tell him what to do, called him a chink. I think he hit him, said Dr. Yun would do as he was told or they would hurt his family." Sky moved slowly into the room, heading for a table and equipment area that was a mess, blood on the walls, a tear sliding down her face, not seeing the crime scene technicians pause in their work. "He was standing there when the other guy told the other guy to get rid of him. 'No! You said if I helped you, you would leave me alone!' he said." A sob wracked her and she wrapped her arms around herself. "And that's when the other guy shot him square in the head." She stared at Gibbs, tears streaming down her face. "He never made a sound. _He never made a sound._ Why? He did as they told him to. And they still killed him. He was one of the nicest doctors here, always willing to teach, always willing to make jokes and give other people a break. I always said that if I could ever afford to go back to school and get the fancy Dr. letters added to my name, then I'd want to work with him, because he didn't just teach, he opened up our minds. I can still see his face in my mind, even when I close my eyes, Gibbs, and I can't make it go away, no matter what I do," she whimpered. She covered her eyes with her hands, shoulders shaking, crying.

Gibbs wrapped his arms around Sky, hugging her, even as he glanced at Cooper, who sighed heavily. "I need her prints and her DNA," he said.

Beside them, Artemis whimpered.

Gibbs lead Sky out of the room and into one of the empty patient rooms, along with Artemis and her pups, before shutting the door. "We have a problem," he said. "Two of the guys were Marines. One of them just turned up dead."

Cooper groaned. "Are you sure?"

"Dog bite marks on his arm, where Artemis bit him. My forensic specialist is running DNA now, from the dog's teeth, but prints have already been confirmed," Gibbs said.

A crime scene tech came up to them, evidence bags in one hand. "We found a couple of buckshot rounds, and a bullet casing," the woman said. "They weren't too careful about cleaning up after themselves."

"Run them," Cooper said. The woman nodded and walked away.

"Oh, Sky said one of the guys had a tattoo on his bicep, two crossed hammers," Gibbs said. "Could be a gang symbol."

"And there's one I can think of, especially with the use of the word 'chink', but they shouldn't be here, because if they are, we are all in very serious trouble," Cooper said.

"Who?"

"The Hammerskins," Cooper said.

"That white supremacist group? Jeeze, that's the last thing we need," Gibbs groaned.

"What's the deal with her?" Cooper asked.

"She's a friend of a friend, and works here. Showed up at my place during the night because the friend told her I was safe," Gibbs said.

"Do you believe her?"

"Until she gives me a reason not to," Gibbs said.

"How do you want to work this?"

"Keep each other in the loop. How did Dr. Yun get forced into helping gang members? How did they even know about where he worked?" Gibbs asked.

Cooper nodded. "Dr. Yun was Army, so I'll work that angle. Your dead guy was a Marine, right? So you work that angle and find out who he was affiliated with. If the Hammerskins are in town and starting to get members in the Armed Forces, that's going to be a multi-agency problem, and the faster we find out who the players are, the faster we can set a tank on the bastards and run 'em out of town."

"Your tank, or ours?" Gibbs asked, smirking.

"Whichever one moves fastest and fires first," Cooper shot back. "We're all on the side, as far as I'm concerned." Gibbs nodded. "How come she brought the dog and her pups?"

"Brubba needs to eat about every three hours and it's almost meal time," Gibbs said.

"Right. Never get between a baby and his food," Cooper said. "This is gonna be fun."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"What the hell is going on here?" a male voice demanded, storming through the building, glaring at anyone who tried to stop him.

"And you are?" Cooper asked, stopping him with a raised hand and flashing the badge that was on his hip.

"Major Dorian Marks," the man sneered. "And you are?"

"Staff Sergeant Jack Cooper, CID," Cooper said easily. "You're one of the doctors here, right?"

"One of the _head_ doctors, yes. Now, what. The. Hell. Is. Going. On here?" Marks said.

"This clinic is a crime scene. Dr. Yun has disappeared, and we have a tip that says he was murdered during the night," Cooper said.

"And just how long is this place going be a crime scene? I have patients to see," Marks asked sarcastically.

"For as long as it takes," Cooper said easily.

"And you are?" Marks asked, seeing Gibbs.

"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. His tip," Gibbs said. "How well did you know Dr. Yun?"

"Well enough. He was competent with his work, but a bit lax with the staff," Marks said.

"How so?" Cooper asked.

"He let them get away with a bit more than they should have. This is the Army, not a playground," Marks said. "Discipline is the order of the day, not jokes and playing with the animals."

"Did you have any problems with any of the staff?' Cooper asked.

"They did their jobs," Marks said. "If there was a problem, they would have been disciplined accordingly."

"But I heard that Dr. Yun hired someone who wasn't Army," Gibbs said. "Maybe there was an issue with that, because you couldn't control her the way you could the Army staff."

"You mean Skylar Raven? Yes, I objected to her, because she was not Army, didn't even present herself as Army and didn't even try, but Dr. Yun insisted. Said she had a talent with animals and people," Marks said. "I objected, but I was overruled by General Ingall, who took a shine to her for some reason."

"Because she knows what she's doing, she's fun, and she can relate to the families of our patients?" a woman with black hair in a bun asked, joining them. "I'm Major Anderson, one of the other veterinarians here," she said, shaking Gibbs and Cooper's hands. "I understand something bad happened during the night?"

"We received a tip that said Dr. Yun was murdered last night, in the clinic, and right now, this is our primary crime scene," Cooper said.

"Damn. I liked Dr. Yun," Anderson said. "He got along well with most of the staff, and was always willing to teach if they were willing to learn."

"Any issues with Skylar Raven?" Gibbs asked.

"Absolutely none. Dr. Yun insisted on hiring Sky after he saw the way she handed a kid's bearded dragon with all the confidence of a zoo handler," Anderson said. "She's bright, animated, friendly, and loves animals, regardless of what they are."

"And the fact that she's not Army?" Cooper asked.

"Doesn't matter to me. She's fantastic with the families that come here, and if there's someone being particularly difficult, she was the one the other assistants would call for help, because she had a gentle touch with them," Anderson said.

"If the assistant can't handle a difficult person, then maybe they should reevaluate their career options," Marks snarked. "They're supposed to be in the Army, and we don't coddle to anyone."

"Thought the Army motto was 'This We'll Defend,' which I thought meant defending others, including each other," Gibbs said.

Marks just sneered at them. He clearly had no patience for anyone he felt couldn't do their jobs to the best of their ability, regardless of the situation. "How long is this going to take? We have a mess to clean up and patients to see, and we're going to be behind on things, since Dr. Yun isn't here."

"Like I said, as long as it takes," Cooper said. "Oh, and Major Marks?"

"What?"

"CID's motto is 'Do What Has To Be Done.' And what that means is, if I think any of you had anything to do with Dr. Yun's disappearance, I will hunt you down, regardless of your rank or your standing in the Army," Cooper said coldly. "Now, the surgery room is a crime scene, so I would suggest you cancel any elective surgeries, and convert one of the other patient rooms into an emergency surgery room until we can release the room. Once that's done, we will let you know. As for how you handle it, I will leave that up to you, but I would prefer it if as few people as possible knew what happened."

"Of course," Anderson said, ignoring the glare from Marks. "We'll let the staff know there was a break in and that CID is investigating. That's all they need to know for now."

"Good. If you hear anything, let me know," Cooper said, handing them his business card.

Once the two doctors were out of earshot, Gibbs said to Cooper, "Sooner or later, they're going to figure out that Sky's missing."

"Yeah. How do you want to handle this?"

They went into the exam room and found Sky on the floor, playing with the puppies while Artemis watched on.

"Someone's going to notice you're missing," Gibbs said. "And it's going to raise suspicion when you don't show up for work, and Dr. Yun's missing."

"And Dr. Marks already doesn't like me," Sky said. "I know. Been thinking about that. Well, been thinking about a lot of things. Some of them good, some of them not so good."

"Has anyone tried contacting you yet?" Gibbs asked.

"Some of my co-workers, asking me if I know what's going on at the clinic. I've been playing dumb, saying I've been at home the whole time," Sky said. "Puppy sitting and all that. But I don't know what to do if Dr. Marks calls me, and he probably will. He's a real whip-cracker and thinks I should have had my cute little tattooed buns whipped because of my tattoos and pink hair, but Dr. Anderson and McCabe like me, and what Dr. Marks doesn't know is that Dr. Anderson has a tattoo on her hip." She grinned mischievously. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty."

"Too much information," Gibbs grunted.

"Can you fake a family emergency?" Cooper asked.

"Nope. Gram's dead, Mom took off years ago, and Dad is whoever Mom bounced nine months, twenty-six years, four months, and thirteen days ago," Sky said. "From what Gram said, bless her soul, the guy didn't exactly stick around past my conception, and Mom used to go through guys faster than I changed my gloves on a bad day." She shrugged. "If I disappear when Dr. Yun has disappeared, some very tiny minds are going to come up with some pretty big conspiracy theories, and conspiracy theories don't have happy endings. Usually."

"So you need to appear and then disappear," Cooper said. "Is this the only clinic you work at?"

"Yup," Sky said. "Don't have time for much else, 'cause I'm pretty much full-time, and when I'm not doing that, I'm volunteering on outings with the clinic, and those can be all-day trips, and those are real trippy."

Gibbs grinned. "Did you ever meet Kasie Hines, NCIS's new Forensic Specialist?"

"Think Abby mentioned her. Wasn't she working with the Duckman for a bit on his book?" Sky asked, tipping her head.

"She was. You're a friend of Abby's, who recommended you, and I need help with an animal on a case, and that means you're working with Kasie on a consult," Gibbs said.

"And you don't know how long the case will take?" Cooper asked, seeing where Gibbs was going with it.

"Exactly," Gibbs said. "And if she's at NCIS, she's safe."

"Your coworkers won't be, if one of the gang decides to bite their ankles," Sky said, grinning, watching as one of the puppies tried to attack Gibbs' pant legs, causing the agent to laugh at his antics.

"Who's the head doctor here?" Gibbs asked.

"That would be Dr. Sullivan," Sky said. "Colonel Steve Sullivan. He handles this branch, but I think there's a Brigadier General who handles pretty much everything else. Nice guy. Oodles of experience behind him, and I've seen him do surgery tricks that would make David Copperfield proud, if David Copperfield did veterinarian medicine. Said he liked my dragon tattoo and that he saw something similar on the leg of a lady he was friendly with in Japan, years ago." Sky blinked. "Never been too sure what to make of that, because he referred to her as a really nice dancer, which could explain how he saw her leg tattoo. Oh, and yes, I do have one down my leg."

"Okay, so how do we reach Dr. Sullivan?" Gibbs asked, watching as Cooper blinked owlishly at Sky.

"Go to Dr. Anderson, say something's come up and you need to talk to the head muckety-muck about borrowing me for a bit, and if Dr. Marks says anything, tell him I came highly recommended by a friend of yours that you trust more than you trust him to tell you the truth about lady he was cozying up to. And she sure as heck wasn't his wife," Sky said easily. Then she smiled widely. "Oh, and no, you're not going to believe she was, quote, just a friend or a colleague, because rumor has it she had her head in his lap, probably making sure all the ice cream was off his dipstick."

Cooper suddenly had a coughing fit, and Gibbs stared at her, eyes wide.

"I'm going to go find Dr. Anderson," he said. "Can you get back to the car without being seen?"

"I'll make sure she does," Cooper said, eyes a bit wide.

Across town, in an alley that was home to drunks, drug users, and the occasional job from a prostitute and her john, McGee, Bishop, Palmer, and Torres were working the crime scene of First Class Private Frederick Cameron, who had been shot in the back of the head and dumped behind a trash bin. He had been discovered by someone who had called in an anonymous tip to the police. When McGee had imputed his description into the BOLO database as being wanted for questioning in regards to a murder case, their victim had popped up as matching that description, especially with the bite on his arm.

Now he was being readied for transport, his identity having been confirmed by fingerprints.

"So our suspect is now a victim," Bishop said, having been brought up to date on the situation.

"He was a liability," Torres said. "That kind of bite, that's going to take stitches and too many questions."

"And there's a lot of them, like how a Marine got involved in a situation like this," McGee said. "Palmer, is there anything we can use?"

"He wasn't killed here," Palmer said. "I'm seeing some postmortem lividity on the victim's side. Could have been transported and dumped here, and in an area like this, he wouldn't have been noticed right away. We might be able to retrieve the bullet."

"Local police did say someone called the body in anonymously," McGee said. "Might be able to track the number and find a witness."

"Or our killer," Bishop said.

"How come we even know about him?" Torres asked.

"Seems we have a witness. Gibbs didn't tell me much more, other than telling me to pick up the wallets and the q-tip, and run them," McGee said. "When I did that, this guy popped up. Palmer, do we know when?"

"About four hours ago," Palmer said. "Beyond that, I'll know more when I get him on my table."

"And we're not going to get anything else from this area," Bishop said.

"In that case, pack it up, and we'll head back to NCIS. Hopefully Gibbs will tell us what's going on," McGee said.

At NCIS, the team found themselves staring at the woman with the bright pink hair, tube feeding a German Shepherd puppy, while three more puppies nursed from a very large German Shepherd female, sitting on the floor near Gibbs' desk. In a blue tank top and black jeans, it was easy to see her tattoos, and she had several, with an Asian-style dragon tattoo that ran from one wrist all the way up her arm, a tattoo in her ear that looked like a seahorse, a sexy winged valkyrie warrior on her other arm, and what looked like burning feathers peeking out from under the back of her top. A black hoodie sweat jacket was on the floor, under the dog and her puppies.

McGee and his friends were used to Abby and her tattoos, but this lady, with her bright pink hair and colorful tattoos, she was a bit different.

The woman smiled widely when she saw them. "Hi! Agent Gibbs said you found that Marine guy, Private Cameron?"

"We did," McGee said carefully. "Boss?"

"Sky Raven, a friend of Abby's, and our witness," Gibbs said, looking up from his computer. "We're working with CID because Staff Sergeant Yun is dead and she witnessed it. We get the Marine, CID gets Dr. Yun, and we figure out if the Hammerskins have started getting members in the Armed Forces."

"The Hammerskins?" Torres groaned. "I hate those guys. Nothing but trouble."

"What do we got on Private Cameron?" Gibbs asked.

"Private Cameron was executed," McGee said. "Palmer's got him in the morgue and we will know when he knows. What we do know is it was a body dump."

"Private Cameron's dead?" Sky squeaked, eyes going wide. "Oh boy. Was it because Artemis bit him? That other guy killed Dr. Yun without even hesitating, so it makes sense he'd get rid of someone he thought was going to be a problem, because dog bites like that, that takes a lot of explaining, and if he was a Marine, well that's going to be a whole lot more explaining, unless he went AWOL, which really wouldn't be a good idea, because if they were trying to stay low on the Know Radar, then that's kinda a bad way to avoid attracting attention." Everyone stared at her, and she blushed, ducking her head. She busied herself looking after her puppy, removing his tube and letting him suck on her finger.

"What she said," Torres said, eyes a bit wide.

"Where are we with the other Marine, Private Brunno?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing on him," McGee said. "A clean record so far, and he reported for duty this morning, at Quantico."

"Bring him in," Gibbs said. "I want to know how his wallet turned up at the scene of a murder."

"Bringing," McGee said, heading for his desk to place some calls.

"Torres, let's start digging into Private Cameron's life," Bishop said.

"You're Nick Torres, huh?" Sky asked, grinning at him. "Abby was right; you're cute."

And Torres grinned at her, causing her ears to match her hair as she blushed. Then her face went pale as something occurred to her. "Umm, Private Cameron, was he killed because he was a liability? And if that's the case, then is it my fault he's dead? 'Cause when he threatened me, I kinda, well, I ordered Artemis to attack him. To be fair, I did warn him to back off, but, well, she bit hit because I told her to, and well, that's not the kind of boo-boo you can just explain away as a scratch or two."

"Sky, it's not your fault," Gibbs said, moving to kneel down in front of her. "You didn't ask Private Cameron to try and attack you, anymore than Dr. Yun asked to be shot. You were defending yourself, and your pups. We don't know what's going on, and it's our job to find out, and we will, but you are not responsible for what happened. Whoever killed Private Cameron is responsible for his death. The fact that we even know what happened, that gives us more of a headstart on this case, and the bad guys than you realize."

"That makes you pretty brave, in my books," Torres said.

Sky's stomach suddenly rumbled, and she groaned. "And pretty hungry. I don't think I had breakfast, unlike these little guys. Oh, and watch your ankles. You're about to (Torres suddenly yelped in pain and shock as one of the puppies attacked his shoelace, catching his ankle with her sharp little teeth) never mind. Enyo just found your shoelace. And we are about to have a puppy punch-up. Any chance of breakfast? Or even a really strong cup of coffee? I'll be happy with that, and a granola bar or two. I survived on that, and a whole buncha knuckle-dragging, sheer bloody kicking-and-screaming determination and stubbornness while I was making my way through the vet assistant program on a teeny-tiny little budget and working an evening job."

"Umm, let me see what we can do," Bishop said, blinking as she tried to process what Sky was saying, while giggling at Torres and Enyo, who was 'fighting' with him.

"And Private Brunno is on his way in, but he did ask if he needed a lawyer," McGee said.

"Does he?" Gibbs asked.

"Only if we can't prove he was at our primary crime scene," McGee said.

"Well, CID might be able to help you with that," Sky said.

"How?" Torres asked.

"Stainless steel. Stuff's all over the main surgery room. Unless you've got more than five minutes and you know where the cleaning stuff is kept, stainless steel sucks for keeping see-your-face mirror shiny, and I'm pretty sure those bad guys weren't wearing gloves," Sky said. "Oh, and I introduced his face to the storage room door and I'm pretty sure his eyes are gonna be crazy sore. Air freshener is for the air, not the eyes, and he got a face-full of that stuff, and the stuff we use is hospital-grade aerosol stuff, which smarts like the doo-dads if you get it in your eyes, like I did him," she continued.

"That would leave a bruise," McGee finally said.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"You found my wallet, sir," Private Brunno said, seeing the wallet in an evidence bag. "But why am I in an interrogation room?"

"Because your wallet was taken from the scene of a crime," Gibbs said. "By the way, that's a nice bruise you have on your face. What happened to you? Catch yourself on the door?"

Private Brunno was sporting a very nasty bruise on his face, and his eyes were looking a bit sore.

"Something like that, sir," Private Brunno said. "What crime scene, sir?"

Gibbs stared at him. "The one where an Army veterinarian was murdered," he said. "Care to explain?"

"My wallet was stolen, sir. Maybe that's why?"

"Your wallet was stolen?" Gibbs asked. "Did you report it?"

"No, because I didn't realize it was missing until this morning."

Behind the two-way mirror, Torres grunted. "That's a cop-out. I always know when my wallet is missing." His hand suddenly moved and he grabbed Bishop's hand. "Nice try," he said. "It's in my desk."

"Drat," Bishop said easily.

"I don't believe you," Gibbs told Private Brunno.

"That's not my problem, sir," Private Brunno said.

"No, but this is going to be," Gibbs said, opening up a file and laying a crime scene photo of Private Cameron down. "We found his wallet at the same crime scene, and he's dead. And don't say you didn't know him, because we have this," he continued, showing a photograph McGee had found of Private Brunno and Private Cameron on Facebook, arms around their shoulders, both raising a beer. Private Brunno blanched a bit, and Gibbs pressed on. "Private Cameron was bitten by a dog, a big one, and our medical examiner says he was executed. We think he was considered a liability by whomever it was that ordered Staff Sergeant Yun killed."

"So?" Private Brunno asked, staring at him owlishly.

"So, if Private Cameron was killed because he was a liability, just because he got bitten by a dog, makes me wonder what's going to happen to you if your boss finds out we were talking to you," Gibbs said.

"Nothing is going to happen to me, because I haven't done anything wrong," Private Brunno said, looking confident.

"Then please explain why we found your prints at the scene of a murder," Gibbs said. "We also have a witness that places you there."

"If you're talking about a woman with pink hair, maybe you should be talking about her, because I think she was the one who stole my wallet," Private Brunno said.

"How'd you know it was a woman with pink hair?" Gibbs asked.

"Because I remember seeing her at the vet clinic," Private Brunno said.

"How? You don't have any pets, and we checked the logs. You were never at the clinic that day, or any other day," Gibbs said. "So how did your wallet and your prints get at my crime scene?" Private Brunno fell silent. "Answer me, Private!" Gibbs suddenly yelled, slamming his hands down on the table, causing the private to jump.

"Unless you are charging me with something, sir, I am going to be walking out of here. And if not, I am requesting a lawyer," Private Brunno said, clearly struggling to regain his composure.

"Fine. You're being charged with trespassing and accessory to murder," Gibbs said. "And unless you start talking and telling me who it was that murdered Dr. Yun, I'm sure CID will be adding a few more charges to that." Private Brunno remained silent, and Gibbs gathered up the file, leaving the room.

"He's screwed and he knows it," Bishop said when Gibbs joined them.

"We got anything else on him?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, CID called. Sky was right; they found more prints on the stainless steel in the surgery room, and several sets match both Private Cameron and Private Brunno," Torres said. "So we've got him for trespassing and accessory to murder, at least. Oh, and attempted aggravated assault, because he tried to attack Sky."

"McGee is dumping his phone and email," Bishop said. "Is Sky really a friend of Abby's?"

"Abby said so, and I trust Abby," Gibbs said.

"Abby said so? Good enough," Torres said.

"Didn't Sky say Artemis was there?" Bishop asked.

"She did," Gibbs said.

"Wonder what would happen if Artemis got wind of Private Brunno?" Bishop said, eyes wide with innocence.

"She'd go for his balls," Torres said.

"Except Sky already did," Gibbs said.

"She did?" Torres asked, grinning.

"Seems she kicked him there," Gibbs said.

"Niiicce," Torre said, grinning even wider.

An idea came to Gibbs. "Put Private Brunno under arrest. When we move him, have Artemis on a leash, let them pass in the hallway, and see what happens," he said.

"Should we let Jack know? She would love to watch something like that," Bishop said.

"Think she was too busy having fun with the puppies," Torres said.

Gibbs just shook his head and walked out of the room.

In the bullpen, Sloane had been introduced to Sky, and was indeed having fun playing with the puppies. Both women were on the floor, near Gibbs' desk, and someone had kindly gotten her something from Beltway Burger, which Sky had proclaimed as her new favorite burger place, even sharing some with Artemis.

"They are so cute," Sloane said, laughing. "Who's who?"

"This little guy is Brubba. He's got a genetic condition called secondary cleft palate, which means the roof of his mouth didn't fully form when he was still developing. He'll have surgery to fix it in a few months, but right now he eats through a tube to his tummy," Sky said. "That's Enyo, a girl, and she really liked Nick's shoelaces. And this little cutie pie is Ares. He's supposed to be named for a war god, but he more of a cuddle buddy than a fighter. And here's Honos. He's a bit of a scrapper too. Had some minor breathing problems when he was born, so there's some concerns the lack of oxygen could cause problems with his brain development, but so far he's doing okay."

"Wow," Sloane said. "So I hear you're our witness. How are you doing?"

Sky ducked her head. "Scared. I'm kinda hard to miss and those guys saw me, and I know Agent Gibbs is talking to one of them right now, and I'm worried about what's going to happen when Private Brunno tells his buddies where I am. Private Cameron is dead because I ordered Artemis to attack him, after he wouldn't back off."

"That wasn't your fault," Sloane said.

"Feels like it, even though I know he would've probably killed me if I hadn't done what I did, just to survive," Sky said. "Story of my life." She shrugged and smiled.

" _You're hiding a lot of hurt, aren't you_?" Sloane thought, watching the transformation. " _Underneath those tattoos and bright hair and bright personality is someone who's had to make some hard choices to survive, and that's weighing on you, and I can see it, even if no one else can._ "

"So what's gonna happen now? I don't know what you know, but I really can't stay away from my apartment for too long," Sky asked. "I've got three pets that need my attention, and I can't leave them alone for too long."

"What kind of pets do you have?" Sloane asked.

"A cockatiel called Argo, a rosy boa called Rose, and a red ackie called Captain Jack," Sky said, taking out her cell phone and pulling up pictures of her pets.

"Wow," Sloane said. She tried not to shiver, and Sky grinned. "Sorry, not a snake lover."

"That's okay. I'm not exactly an eel lover. Those guys on that show, _Tanked_? They have a couple of moray eels in their shop and I shiver like crazy every time I see them," Sky said, shivering, causing Sloane to laugh,

"I don't mind snakes, but Torres might," McGee said, grinning. "Seems Kasie freaked him out when she mentioned the possibility of snakes at a crime scene one time. He suddenly decided he was going to go check out that very interesting tree way over there."

"And I hear my name being called," Kasie said, coming into the bullpen. "Hi, I'm Kasie Hines, and you guys are so adorable!" Kasie said, smiling at Sky, who grinned.

"Sky Raven. According to Agent Gibbs, I'm supposed be working with you on a supposed animal consult," Sky said.

"You are?" Kasie asked, joining her on the floor, grinning at one of the pups, who decided her hand was a good chew toy.

"She's a witness to a murder CID is investigating," McGee said. His phone rang. "McGee. Understood." He glanced at Sky. "You need to hide. They're arresting Private Brunno and bringing him out, and Gibbs wants to see how Artemis will react if she gets a sniff of him."

"And I want to see that," Sloane said.

"In that case, I'm under the desk, here's Artemis's leash, and if you want her to growl or go nuts, like a crazy dog, say 'Blearta hund,' and she will go mad dog nuts, but she won't attack, unless you give the command," Sky said, going under Gibbs' desk and curling up tightly.

"And how do I get her to stop?" Sloane asked, taking the leash.

"Ruhig," Sky said. "That means 'Quiet.' Don't forget to praise her. And uh-oh," Sky said, seeing Artemis' head go up. She smelled something she recognized. "Think someone's coming, and she recognizes it."

Artemis growled and stood up.

"Easy, girl, easy," Sloane soothed, standing up. She saw Gibbs and Torres escorting someone in a Marine uniform with the rank of Private on his uniform, his hands in cuffs behind his back, and guided Artemis around. Artemis saw Private Brunno and started growling. She recognized his scent.

Private Brunno's eyes went wide and he faltered. Sloane and Artemis stopped near McGee's desk, and she knelt down beside the growling German Shepherd.

"What's the matter, Private?" Gibbs asked.

"That dog," Private Brunno said.

"Yeah, what about her? Oh, that's right. She was the one who bit your buddy. Think maybe she recognizes you?" Torres asked, grinning.

"Blerta hund," Sloane whispered to Artemis, who suddenly went nuts. Barking, growling, snarling, and lunging at her leash, she seemed to make it very clear she was going to take a piece out of Private Brunno

"Get that dog away from me!" Private Brunno yelled, struggling to get away from Artemis and the two agents.

"Why? What did you do to piss her off?" Gibbs demanded. "Dogs don't lie, but you are! What did you do? Talk, before Agent Sloane can't keep her under control any longer!"

"Fine! Fine, I was at that vet clinic! And so was that dog!" Private Brunno yelled.

"Why were you there? C'mon, I can't hold her for much longer!" Sloane snapped, only making a half-hearted effort to control Artemis.

"One of my buddies got shot and we were told that someone we knew, knew the alarm code to the place and could get someone else to help us. It was supposed to be a simple in-and-out, but the boss had a hate on for the chink doctor," Private Brunno snapped, struggling against Torres and Gibbs. "But then that pink-haired bitch saw us and yeah, I chased after her, but I got sprayed in the damn eyes and she got in a field goal. If I ever find her, she's a dead woman!"

"And you're a dead man," Torres said, "because word's going to get out you helped us, and you're going to be just as dead as Private Cameron is."

"I don't know what happened to him! He was alive when I last saw him, I swear! The boss said he would take care of him, that no one would ever know what happened, because he knew who the pink-haired witness was! He said he would take care of her, not take care of Fred!" Private Brunno protested.

"That enough?" Sloane asked Gibbs, who nodded. "Okay, Artemis, ruhig. Good girl. Good girl," she said to the dog, who quieted down, still glaring at Private Brunno.

"Who is your boss?" Gibbs snapped. When Private Brunno hesitated, Sloane loosened her grip on Artemis' leash, and the dog stepped forward, dipping her head down and baring her teeth.

"Andy Wilson, his name is Andy Wilson, and you can find him at the Biker's Garage Bar, outside of Quantico. He owns it or he runs it, I don't know, but he doesn't just let anyone in, especially that beaner here," Private Brunno spat, glaring at Torres.

"Now that's just plain mean," Sloane said. "And just for that, I think I'll let Artemis go and have your balls for lunch. Artemis-"

"No!" Private Brunno screamed, fighting against Torres and Gibbs. It got so bad, McGee and Bishop had to join in and help. They finally got the screaming man into the elevator, but not before Gibbs shot Sloane a glare, who responded by laughing.

"Lady, you are incredible," Sky said, carefully popping her head over Gibbs' desk. "That poor slob is going to be having nightmares about Artemis biting his weiner for weeks!"

"That was funny," Sloane said, cackling, as she brought a wagging Artemis back to her puppies.

"I'm glad you think so, Agent Sloane," a male voice said from up above. "Now, would you please let me in on the joke, and someone explain to me why we have a dog and puppies in NCIS?"

"Uh-oh?" Sky asked, seeing the black man in the nice suit, glaring at them from the second level.

"Sky, meet Director Leon Vance of NCIS. He's the Big Boss and our boss," Kasie said. "Director Vance, this is Sky Raven, Gibbs' witness in a murder that we're working on with CID."

"And why are we working with CID on a murder investigation?" Vance asked, coming down the stairs.

"Because the victim is Army and one of our suspects is a Marine, and so is one of our victims, who took part in the murder of the Army officer?" Sloane asked. "Sky witnessed the murder of the Army veterinarian doctor, and she was friends with Abby, who sent her towards Gibbs. She also managed to get her hands on two of the attacker's wallets, both of which were Marine, including that guy that Gibbs had his hands full with."

"And the dog?" Vance asked, letting Artemis sniff his hand.

"Artemis was with me when the whole thing happened, sir," Sky said, brushing her hair out of her face. "She attacked Private Cameron on my command, when he tried to stop me and her and her puppies from leaving, after I saw everything."

"And why is Artemis and her pups with you and not at home?" Vance asked. Sky picked up Brubba and coaxed him to open up his mouth. "The roof of his mouth isn't flat," Vance realized.

"Secondary cleft palate," Sky said. "He gets a tube to his tummy to eat, which is every three hours, until he can have surgery at three to four months."

"I see," Vance said, petting Brubba's head, smiling when the pup tried to bite him playfully. "And because Artemis was a witness, shall we say, she was able to 'convince' Private Brunno to talk?"

"Yes sir," Sloane said.

"And because you're a witness and, I'm guessing well known at the clinic the Army doctor works at, you're here as a consultant as a means of hiding you?" Vance asked. All three women nodded. "That explains the papers that came across my desk this morning." He nodded. "Have Gibbs come to my office when he gets back. Oh, and if you ever need a dog sitter, let me know."

"Yes sir," the women said.

"By the way, would Artemis have attacked Private Brunno?" Vance asked.

"Not without the command, and I'm not saying that right now," Sky said. "Don't want her to ruin your nice suit, sir. Now that would be a fun one to explain to your boss. And Artemis plays dirty, like ground-in-dirt-in-your-jeans dirty. She'll either go for your arm, which is what she's supposed to do, or if you're not fast enough, I have seen her go for the groin. Sometimes she gets the thigh, sometimes she gets the weiner and the balls in the same time. Last guy she did that to, well, he was supposed to have a date that night. Kinda hard to do that when he had bruises on his gonads. And a real high-pitched scream, too. Oof."

And all Vance could do was stare at her. "You are definitely one of Abby's friends."

"You think that's bad? Wait until you hear about the time I sent my mom running out of Gram's garage, screaming, because I forgot to tell her about the garter snake I had in there, which had gotten loose and decided it liked the laundry basket full of dirty clothes she was sorting through and about to put in the wash machine," Sky said easily. "I got a tanning for scaring Mom, but I got to keep the snake."

"Oh my god," Vance groaned, while Sloane laughed and Kasie stared at her in amazement.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Gibbs' phone rang as he watched Private Brunno get processed.

"Yeah, Gibbs," he said.

" _It's Cooper. We have a new problem_ ," Cooper said, cutting to the chase.

"And?"

" _Local LEO's received a report of a burning body in an empty lot. We had a BOLO out for Dr. Yun, including the possibility he may have a bullet wound to the head. The body that just turned up had a bullet hole in the forehead, and matches the general height of Dr. Yun_ ," Cooper said. " _We're looking at him now and I think we found his dog tags in a nearby barrel that was also set on fire. Someone really wanted this guy to disappear_."

"Private Brunno just confessed to being an accessory to Dr. Yun's murder, but said he didn't know what happened to Private Cameron," Gibbs said.

" _Did he give you a name as to who the leader of their little clique was?_ " Cooper asked.

"He did. Ever heard of the Biker's Garage Bar? Seems Andy Wilson likes to hang out there and he's particular about who he lets in," Gibbs said. "Private Brunno referred to one of my agents as a beaner."

" _Which means he really wouldn't like me,_ " Cooper said, a grin evident in his voice. " _I think it's time we had a chat with Andy. Care to meet up for a beer?_ "

"Sounds like fun, but I think we'd better bring some friends along," Gibbs said. "My knee is giving me a bit of trouble these days and I really don't feel like finding out if I can still handle myself in a bar fight."

" _In that case, I think I know someone. You bring one of yours, I bring one of mine_ ," Cooper said.

"I'll send you the location," Gibbs said. He snapped his phone shut.

Back upstairs, McGee had some more information. "Been running this Andy Wilson, and he's got a record. Mostly for assault, uttering threats, and suspected hate crimes, as most of his victims have been blacks, Muslims, or Mexicans, even if they weren't actually either."

"So someone like me would be a target," Torres said.

"Very easily," McGee said.

"Which could explain why they went after Dr. Yun," Bishop said. "He was from South Korea and immigrated here when he was a teenager. When he got his citizenship, he joined the Army, and eventually the Veterinary Corps, which services all three branches of the Armed Forces."

"He was also very worried about North and South Korean relations," Sky said. "Seems he had family that was still in North Korea, and with all the talks going on, and the whole 'my-guns-are-bigger-than-your-guns' talk things going on, he was concerned about another really big punch-up between the two."

"Do you know if there were any other problems, anything he might have said?" Sloane asked.

"I think something was going on, because he'd been acting funny for the last few days, like really jumpy, looking at his phone like it was going to bite him or something. If these yakity-yahoos were racists, maybe he was having problems with them?" Sky said. "I wanna know how they even knew about him, and this whole friend thing. Maybe I'm off my rocker more than usual, but what if the reason those white-washed bing-brains knew about him was because someone on the inside told them about him and with all the recent immigrant fear-mongering going around lately, they figured he'd be a good target, even though he was just as much a citizen as you and I are, but because he wasn't Joe White, they wouldn't care about that itty bitty detail?" She blushed again when everyone stared at her.

"She's not off her rocker there, boss," McGee said.

"Was Dr. Yun good at what he did?" Sloane asked Sky.

Sky nodded. "Very good. Better than Dr. Marks, in fact, and everyone I know loved working with Dr. Yun because he didn't just do, he taught. He could also take a joke, like the time some idiot called him Jackie Chan. When he corrected the ding-a-ling, the guy said that all asians looked the same. That was when he said something about calling his wife to make sure she had the right guy in her bed. I thought Dr. Anderson was going to choke to death on her coffee."

"Eyouch," Sloane said, eyes wide.

"You said he was better than Dr. Marks. How so?" McGee asked.

"Dr. Marks was a stiff-necker. If you weren't Army, or family of Army, he wouldn't deal with you, which meant his patient relations kinda sucked. Dr. Yun had a habit of giving people a break, like this homeless vet who came in with his dog, Buster," Sky said. "Dr. Marks refused to give him or Buster the time of day, but Dr. Yun took care of this guy and his dog, and didn't even charge him. Somehow the paperwork got lost, a.k.a. it fell in the shredder. Same thing with a lady whose son was in the Marines. He had died last year, and her husband had died the year before, and this cat was all she had left of either of them, and it had gotten badly hurt, like multiple broken bones hurt. Dr. Marks tried to say we were going to have to euthanize the poor thing, but Dr. Yun and Dr. Sullivan overrode him and managed to pull a big, fat rabbit out of an itty bitty top hat. I had to put my fingers in braces for a week after that, because Mrs. Carter nearly broke them from squeezing my hand so hard. I also think we had to fix the floor because of the hole she wore in it from the pacing she was doing. Oh, and Dr. Marks had his nose in a knot over that for about a week and a half, because it turns out Mrs. Carter's husband wasn't just anyone; he was a four-star General when he retired, and his name was still big enough to send most sane officers running for the hills. But it was mostly the fact that Dr. Yun overrode him and got backed by Dr. Sullivan. Turns out they were right, because two months later, this pampered purebred Persian kitty was running around like nobody's business."

"Again ouch," Torres said.

"Yeah. Oh, and Dr. Marks is also a bit of a jerk towards anyone he thinks is an immigrant, more so if they're Muslim or Islamic or anyone who wears those really pretty head coverings and doesn't speak English clearly enough," Sky said.

"So he has racist tendencies," Sloane said.

"Not that he'd ever admit it," Sky said.

"Did Dr. Yun ever wear his dog tags?" Gibbs asked.

"Think so, but you'd be better off asking his wife, Kayoko," Sky said. "Why?"

"CID just found a burned body with his dog tags nearby," Gibbs said.

Sky's eyes went wide. "Has anyone told her yet? She's going to have her hands full with the two teenage boys."

"I don't know," Gibbs said. "CID may have told her by now."

"Do you want to contact her?" Sloane asked Sky gently.

"Yeah, 'cause I respected Dr. Yun and I liked her, but I don't know if she should know that I do know," Sky said.

"Why don't we wait and see what happens first?" Sloane said. "Remember, you're still a protected witness, and we haven't arrested Andy Wilson yet."

Sky nodded. "Okay." Then her phone beeped. Taking it out, she glanced at her message. "Wow. Looks like Artemis' owners, Gunnery Sergeant Morales and Shawna, are back. Maybe we should drop them off so there's one less thing for you guys to worry about?"

"Let's go," Gibbs said. "Sloane, think you can handle yourself in a biker bar?" he asked.

"Happily," Sloane said. "Let me change into some jeans in case things get a bit rowdy. Who's coming with me?"

"McGee, you and Sloane. You're meeting up with Cooper and his buddy," Gibbs said. "We're there to bring a guy in for questioning, not start a fight."

"And you don't trust Andy not to do just that," Bishop said.

"No, I don't," Gibbs said. "And you to keep digging into Andy Wilson and the rest of our suspects," he told her.

Kasie's cell phone rang. It was Palmer, and he had some evidence for Kasie to process.

"Skin scrapings from under his nails, and the bullet that was in his head," Kasie said, standing up. "That means I have work to do. Oh, and that DNA from Artemis's teeth? Confirmed match to Private Cameron."

McGee called Cooper, gave him the address of the bar, and passed on what they knew. The CID agent agreed to meet with them at the bar, along with someone he said was Sergeant Fairchild, while Gibbs and Sky took Artemis and her puppies home.

The Biker's Garage Bar was a slightly run-down building on the side of the highway, with multiple bikes outside, and several cars, enough to suggest that it was keeping busy. Waiting for McGee and Sloane, who had changed into jeans, were Cooper and a slender man with light blonde hair, who just met the height requirements for CID.

"Sergeant Fairchild," the man said, shaking their hands. "Coop says we might have our hands full with this guy."

"We ran the background on this place on our way up," McGee said. "LEO's have been here on multiple occasions due to fights, and Wilson is a known brawler but always gets out."

"Sounds like fun," Fairchild said. "How do you want to handle this?"

"Wilson is technically yours, since the victim was Army," McGee said. "We'll provide back-up."

"Fair enough," Cooper said. They headed inside, with Cooper and Fairchild heading for the bar, having been shown a picture of Wilson, while McGee and Sloane quickly checked out the bar patrons.

"CID. We need to talk, Andy," Cooper said, showing the belligerent man his bad.

"No we don't," Andy said, glaring at them. "You feds need to get out of my bar, or I will have you thrown out. This is private property and I'm the boss here."

"Yeah, thought you might say that," Cooper said, smiling widely. "Thing is, you're a suspect in my murder investigation, and I have every right to haul your ass over that bar and take you in. Now, the more you fight, the more the charges rack up. And it could get to the point that this place is shut down."

Andy swore at him and stepped away from the bar, giving him the finger. "Come and get me, asshole. I'll claim police brutality and have your badge before the end of the day."

What he didn't realize was what McGee was up to. He had gone over to a table and quietly laid down his badge, pulling a chair up to their table. "NCIS, gentlemen. I'm Agent McGee and this is Agent Sloane. We're working with CID to investigate the murder of an Army Staff Sergeant who was murdered."

"Gunnery Sergeant James, sir, ma'am," a heavy-set, clean-shaven man said. He had been drinking a beer with his buddies and was watching Cooper and Fairchild closely. They had caught McGee's attention when one of them referred to the other as 'Gunny'. "What does that have to do with us?"

"I wonder," Sloane said idily, sitting down across from McGee, "if you'd like to know that Andy Wilson may have had a hand in the death of one of your own?" She pulled out her phone and showed the group the crime scene photo of Private Cameron. "This was Private Cameron, and he was last seen in the company of that guy, along with Private Brunno. Private Brunno was told Private Cameron would be taken care of, after he was attacked by a dog, while trespassing at a vet clinic, the same vet clinic Staff Sergeant Yun was murdered at. Now, that may not have been a smart move, but we think Andy Wilson killed Private Cameron because he was a liability after being bitten." Sloane blinked innocently. "Oh, and did I mention he tried to have a witness killed? Just because she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? She was trying to get puppy formula for a pup who belongs to one of the guard dogs of one of you guys."

Gunnery Sergeant James looked at his friends, who all wore the same glare on their faces. "And you need to talk to Andy?"

"We do, and anyone who may have seen Andy hanging out with anyone who has known racist or anti-immigrant tenadacies, based on what our witness is saying," McGee said.

"One question, sir," one of the younger Marines said.

"Ask," McGee said.

"Are you also known as Thom E. Gemcity? Those _Deep Six_ books?"

McGee grinned. "I am."

"In that case," the Marine shoved a napkin towards him. "Sign. My sister loves your books. You do that, and I don't know about Gunny, but I will be very happy to help you deal with Andy."

"He killed a Marine," Gunnery Sergeant James said. "That's good enough for me."

"Hoo-rah!" the other three Marines at the table said. McGee quickly signed the napkin, and the Marine tucked it carefully in his pocket. Then they made a beeline for Andy.

"Short of the long, boss," McGee said a few minutes later, breathing hard, "we got Andy Wilson, and five of his buddies, who all decided to join in on the fight." He glared at the nearly-unconscious bar owner, who had finally been dragged out to the car, in cuffs, by both him and Cooper. Andy was now sporting a split lip and numerous scrapes and bruises around his face.

" _You were supposed to pick up a suspect, not get involved in a bar fight, McGee!_ " Gibbs snapped.

"Yeah, well, tell that to Andy and his buddies, who kind of objected to us being there," McGee said. "Turns out Sloane has a real wicked right hook."

" _How bad?_ " Gibbs asked.

"Ten guys verses about five Marines and four federal agents," McGee said, watching as several police officers hauled out a staggering biker, who looked like he had been on the wrong end of a blender full of rocks. He would be joining two of his buddies in the back of a police van and hauled off to the nearest police station. "Gunnery Sergeant James said that was the best bar fight he'd been in, in a long time. And I think Sloane enjoyed herself a little too much. Oh, and it turns out Sergeant Fairchild is an expert in Brazilian jiu-jitsu."

" _Is the building even standing?_ " Gibbs asked incredulously.

McGee looked at the broken windows in the bar, and winced as someone, not a Marine, got tossed through it, to land in an unconscious heap on the ground. "It's still standing, but I think it may need to be condemned." He winced when one of the posts, which had been broken earlier, thanks to someone hitting it, likely a biker, finally broke and the corner of the porch cover came down with a resounding crash, causing a whoop of laughter from inside the bar. "And we owe Gunnery Sergeant James and his friends a major favour, because that wasn't a bar fight, boss, that was an all-out brawl."

" _I'll call the MP_ ," Gibbs said, ending the call.

McGee glanced up as Gunnery Sergeant James joined them, rubbing his bruised knuckles. "My boss says he'll call the MP, make sure you guys get left alone. Thanks for the assist," he said.

"Bunch of pussies," Gunnery Sergeant James grunted. "There's no room for people like him. Maybe now they'll clean this place up, make it a real bar."

"Maybe you should take over then," McGee said. "Bet it would be a lot nicer if a Marine was running it instead of a guy like him. Make it a place for anyone who's ever served to have a safe place to have a drink."

"And if you did that, I'd be coming right back for a drink," Sloane said, joining them. She was sporting a few new bruises around her hands, but was otherwise okay. "Call it the H Double C."

"H Double C?" McGee asked.

"Honor, Courage, and Commitment, the three core values of the Marines," Sloane said.

A light gleamed in Gunnery Sergeant James' eyes. "Hmm. You never know."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Sky was staring at Gibbs, eyes wide, hands covering her mouth. "Your agents got involved in a bar fight?" she squeaked, trying not to giggle.

"Ever seen a bar fight with a bunch of Marines?" Gibbs asked, trying to remember which MP he could call.

"Without going into too much detail, yes, actually, I have," Sky admitted, rubbing her ear. "And the guys weren't drunk, but the guy who made the mistake of insulting one of them, was. It didn't end well." _And I made a heck of a lot of tips that night_ , she thought, remembering.

"Never does."

They had just dropped off Artemis and her puppies with Gunnery Sergeant Morales and Shawna, a very nice couple who were very happy to see Artemis. They had met and befriended Sky when Brubba had been brought to the clinic, shortly after birth. When Shawna's father and brother had been involved in a vehicle accident, they weren't able to take Artemis with them, and thus had been staying with Sky for a while.

"So, now what?" Sky asked as they left the Morales house. "You got one of the bad guys, and it sounds like he might be a bit sore, but I'm safe now, right?"

"No, because you said there were four, and we're still missing the fourth guy," Gibbs said.

"Phooey. Well, maybe he was hanging with this Wilson guy? He shouldn't be too hard to find, not with the stitches in his forearm and all that," Sky said. "And there should have been prints in the clinic, what with all the stainless steel and the mess those guys were making."

"CID is taking care of it. We have our Marines," Gibbs said. "And until we find the fourth guy, you're stuck with us."

"Okay, but not to be rude, but you guys are kinda boring. I'm used to hustling my ass all hours of the day, not sitting around on it," Sky said. "If I'm going to keep being in protective custody, can we at least do it at my apartment, or some place really cool? Or better yet, some place with food! I'm starving! And I could use a nap. That was a bit of a late night, and I miss my bed."

Gibbs chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders. "Beltway Burger again? And we'll check out your apartment, find out how secure it is."

"Yummy! And I don't know about secure, because there's always someone wandering the hallways, but I have two deadbolts on my door, so I don't know if that counts," Sky said, getting in the car.

"It doesn't," Gibbs said, wondering if they were going to have to move Sky's pets to a more secure location. That would not be fun. "We ran your phone. Are you going to have any issues with your boyfriend?"

"If you mean Danny, then no, I shouldn't do. He thinks I'm on a trip with NCIS for a few days, and he knew about Abby," Sky said. "Oh, and I haven't posted anything on Facebook lately, so that should be okay."

"Keep it that way. The fewer people who know where you are, the better," Gibbs said. "We may need to move you, so can you move your pets without an issue?"

"If I've got the gear and the assurance that they'll have what they need, then it shouldn't be an issue," Sky said. "But Argo gets a little loud when his environment gets changed too much, and by loud, I mean ear-piercing, stick-your-fingers-in-your-ears-screech."

"Do we need ear plugs?" Gibbs asked.

"And a really dark blanket, because that kinda helps with the calming down and shutting up," Sky said. "He's a really sweet bird, just a little on the temperamental side, which is okay because no-birdy is perfect," she said, grinning at the pun, causing Gibbs to shake his head in amusement.

Andy Wilson was facing serious jail time, and he was refusing to talk. No matter what Cooper said, or threatened him with, he refused to talk. Instead, he just sat there, smirking.

"I know my rights, beaner, and I ain't sayin' another word, except 'I want a lawyer'. Now be a good little Mexican and go get him," Andy said, folding his arms across his chest.

Outside the CID interrogation room, McGee and Sloane were waiting for him. "Forensics are saying his prints match the ones in the clinic," McGee said. "And they just found two guns in the safe of the Biker Garage Bar. They're running it now but say that one of them matches the caliber of the bullet we pulled out of Private Cameron."

"Well, we have him for that," Cooper said. "We're dumping his phones now; maybe we can get a lead on this fourth guy. How's your witness?"

"Tired but holding. She and Gibbs took Artemis and her pups back to her owner," Sloane said.

"Good. One less thing to worry about," Cooper said. "We dusted the alarm system; the only prints that were on top were Dr. Yun's, which says he deactivated the alarm unwillingly."

"What are the autopsy results of Dr. Yun?" McGee asked.

"Well, we confirmed it was him that we found, and we confirmed he was killed by a bullet to the head," Cooper said. "So that matches up with your witness. Unfortunately, due to the fire, we couldn't tell what else happened to him."

"And the clothes in the barrel?" McGee asked.

"Badly burned. In fact, the only reason we even knew it was Dr. Yun's were the dog tags. Right now, if it weren't for your witness, we'd have nothing. We also dumped his phone, and we found several threatening text messages, mostly referring to him being an immigrant and to go back to his country," Cooper said. "We're wondering if this was a hate crime."

"Did the clinic cameras show anything?" Sloane asked.

"That's the thing that's confusing us; none of Andy or his Marine buddies show up at the clinic," Cooper said. "So how did they know about him? Our investigation says he was grabbed on his way home, when he stopped for gas. Again, how did they know where to find him?"

"We know he wasn't popular with one of the doctors because he was considered better in terms of people personality and skill. He over-rode the doctor and pulled, to quote someone, a very fat rabbit out of a very skinny top hat," McGee said. "And this particular doctor has shown some anti-immigrant tendencies."

"Another MAGA lover?" Cooper asked.

"I don't know about that, but if we're looking at someone on the inside, which is what I'm starting to wonder, maybe we should be looking at him. His name is Dr. Marks," McGee said.

"Heard of him, spoke with him, didn't care for him," Cooper said. "And your witness is saying those two had issues?"

"Dr. Marks had issues with anyone who wasn't Army, Muslim, Islamic, didn't speak English properly, or proved they were right to his wrong," Sloane said.

"And he would have access to Dr. Yun's phone number," Cooper said. "Wouldn't be the first time someone worked behind the scenes to get rid of their competition."

"Do we have anything on Andy Wilson to connect him to Dr. Marks?" McGee asked.

"Not yet, but then again, we haven't started looking," Cooper said. "And trust me, we intend to tear Andy's bar apart to the foundation. If there's something to be found, we'll find it."

"What about the rest of the staff? Anyone of any interest?" McGee asked.

"That's the thing; it's a clean clinic, but we're still checking it out," Cooper said. "Anything your witness could give us would be a big help."

"Gibbs is pretty protective of her, so if you want to talk to her, I would recommend coming down to NCIS," Sloane said.

"Might be a good idea. She may know something she doesn't realize she knows," Cooper said.

"Just be prepared for some very colorful expressions," McGee said.

"Last time I spoke with her, she mentioned Dr. Marks had some woman cleaning the ice cream off his dipstick," Cooper said wryly. "I may have a dirty mouth when I'm mad, but her's is just plain colorful when she's _not_ mad."

Then McGee's phone rang; it was Gibbs.

"Yeah, boss?"

" _We need to take a much closer look at Dr. Marks_ ," Gibbs said. " _He just left a threatening message on Sky's phone when he demanded she come back to work. She refused, citing an open-ended consult with us, which was approved by Dr. Sullivan as work experience_."

"Threatening how?" McGee asked.

" _Bad things happen to people who don't do as they're told_ ," Gibbs said.

McGee's eyebrows shot up. "That is cause for concern. Okay, Wilson lawyered up and CID is tearing his life apart at the seams. Sloane and I will head back and I'll start digging into Dr. Marks."

" _We need to move Sky out of her apartment. Have you found the fourth guy yet?_ "

"Wilson refused to say anything, other than the lawyer demand," McGee said. "Fortunately Cooper found enough to hold him for a while, and they're testing the guns they found in the safe, but one of them matches the caliber of the bullet they pulled out of Dr. Yun, who is the confirmed burned victim. Also, Dr. Yun received several threatening messages on his phone as well, and Cooper is starting to wonder if we're dealing with a hate crime."

" _Get back here. We're moving Sky and her pets as soon as possible_ ," Gibbs said, ending the call.

"Sky just got a threatening message from Dr. Marks when she refused to come back to work," McGee said. "And I quote, 'Bad things happen to people who don't do as they're told'. We're moving her to a safe house, pets and all."

"And I am suddenly very interested in Dr. Marks," Cooper said, scowling.

"Aren't we all," Sloane said.

In the car with Gibbs, Sky stared at her phone, wondering if she should be putting it in one of those fancy wire cages that prevented signals from reaching it.

"Has he ever said or done anything like that before?" Gibbs asked.

"Mostly he just left me alone, but one time he kinda got a little weird on me," Sky admitted. "I used to dance to pay for school, the kind where I wore as little as possible. Paid better than my waitress job at the bar."

"Okay," Gibbs said, watching as she dipped her head, her face going a slight shade of pink.

"The subject of pole dancing came up one day, among me and the girls, because one of the girls was talking about doing something racy for her boyfriend, and I admitted I'd done it and it was fantastic exercise, but if you did it wrong, you could get hurt. And then I mentioned lap dances, and said they could be very erotic. Dr. Marks happened to be listening in and he later came up to me and suggested I do one for him, just as a demonstration. I said sure, but he'd have to pay me and I'd need to meet his wife. He asked why, and I said because that's who I'd be doing the lap dance for, not some geezer like him. After all, Army regs forbid him for paying for such things, and he really wouldn't want it known that he paid for a lap dance, 'cause for anyone other than my boyfriend, my lap dances weren't free."

"How did he respond?" Gibbs asked.

"We got interrupted by one of the other girls, who suddenly decided she really needed my help with a difficult patient, but, good Lord Above, suddenly I'm getting stuck with the worst jobs in the clinic for a week, before Dr. Anderson put a stop to that. She then asked me if Dr. Marks really had asked me to give him a lap dance, and I told her how I responded. She said his behaviour could be considered sexual harassment, and I reminded her that the situation was a he-said-she-said thing and because I wasn't Army, I'd likely lose. She understood, and then asked me if I could offer her any tips on lap dancing, so she could have some fun with her husband. I didn't mind, because she's a lot of fun and she and her husband are really nice people with open minds."

"So Dr. Marks asked you for a lap dance, when you refused, he got nasty by making you do dirty jobs at the clinic?" Gibbs summarized. "And when Dr. Anderson found out about it, she put a stop to that?"

"More or less, yeah," Sky said.

"Okay, beyond that?"

"He's bossy, he's a demanding perfectionist, and he's a cheater, but he's human, and he can handle dogs pretty good," Sky said. "Mostly though, I think he just wants the clinic run like a really, really tight ship, which is kinda hard to do when you're dealing with animals and their humans, and the majority of those animals belong to people who aren't Army."

Then her phone dinged again. "It's Danny and what the fook? Gibbs, umm, I think we have a really big problem, like really big." There was a picture on her phone and it was of Gibbs with his arm around her shoulders, as they were leaving Gunnery Sergeant Morales' place. Sky yelped as Gibbs suddenly threw the car into a nearby parking lot.

"Find out where he got that picture," Gibbs demanded.

"I'm trying to, but he's accusing me of cheating on him," Sky said, typing frantically, panic evident on her face. "No, no this isn't fair. You're not playing fair, Danny! Stop it! He's a friend, I swear! He doesn't believe me, says we're through, that he's going to tell everyone I cheated on him, that I'm lying about being out of town!"

Gibbs pulled out his phone and dialed someone. "Torres, find Danny whatever the hell his last name is, and haul his ass into NCIS, _now_ , and put a trace on that bastard's phone. He just sent Sky a photo of us and I want to know where the hell it came from." Gibbs glanced at Sky, who now had tears rolling down her face. "The son of a bitch just accused her of cheating on him and dumped her, and he's threatening to blow her cover. Stop him, _now!_ "

" _BOLO is out on him, boss, and Bishop's running his phone now_ ," Torres said, a few seconds later. " _I don't know what she did, but she managed to do some fancy computer work and he won't be sending anything to anyone for a bit_."

"Good. We're on our way to Sky's apartment and we're going to need a van; we need to move Sky's pets to a safe house, _yesterday_."

" _Getting. I'll meet you there,_ " Torres said.

As Gibbs threw the car in gear and started heading for Sky's apartment, he glanced at her. If anyone could curl up without doing so, Sky was doing just that.

"Sky, I need you to be ready to grab your gear and your pets," Gibbs said gently. Sky nodded numbly. "We're going to move you to a safe house and we're going to be moving fast. Can you do that?" Again, Sky nodded numbly. "Has cheating always been an issue with you and Danny?"

"Not as far as I knew," Sky said, wiping her eyes and sniffling. "This is outta-left-field-smack-you-in-the-face-with-a-fast-ball ouchie-type unexpected. He has no idea what he's doing."

"He will. We'll find out who sent him that picture," Gibbs said. _Even if I have to haul him upside down and screw his ears to a wall,_ he thought grimly.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Torres swore he was going to need to see a chiropractor again, just to put his spine back in place. He had just pulled up to the address that was listed as Sky's apartment, and gotten out to check out the area, when a blast had rocked the area, sending him into the ground.

He groaned, feeling a headache coming on, but knew he had a bigger problem than just a headache, like what the hell had just happened.

Knowing people would be calling 911 by now, he scrambled to his feet and headed for the building, flashing his badge where he needed to.

"What happened?" he demanded to a young man who was helping an elderly woman down the hall, where fire alarm lights were strobing.

"I don't know! Some kind of loud explosion! I gotta get my gram outta here!" the young man said.

"Okay, ambulance and fire are probably already on the way. Head for some place safe. Is she okay?" Torres asked, seeing the wide-eyed woman, dressed in a colorful muumuu.

"She's okay, but she's got dementia, and she survived the Vietnam War, so this is probably pretty confusing for her," the young man said.

"Of course. Get her out of here and make sure you get help, if you need it, okay?" Torres said, coughing, as the hallways were quickly starting to fill with smoke.

As more and more people evacuated the building, Torres made his way up to the second floor, where he found two men battling a fire that was coming from an apartment. He swore when he saw the apartment number; it was Sky's apartment, and it was on fire.

"What the hell happened?" he demanded, coughing.

"Don't know, but we got a big-ass fire!" one of the men yelled, spraying the fire extinguisher around.

"There were pets in here!" Torres said.

"What kind?" the other man yelled back.

"Bird, lizard, snake!"

"Likely dead!" the first man yelled. "Get everyone out! We got this!"

"Fire department's on the way!" Torres called back. But they were right; there wasn't much else he could do, except help evacuate the building, which he did. Then he called Gibbs.

Or was about to.

A familiar black sedan pulled up and a panicking Sky poured out of the car, horror on her face.

"My pets!" she cried, fighting Torres when he grabbed her, stopping her. "I have to get to my pets! Please!"

"They're dead, Sky! I'm sorry, but they're dead! The fire was in your apartment, and it was a really bad explosion!" Torres said, struggling with her. "The compression forces alone would have killed them, if the fire didn't!"

"No! No! No! _No!_ " Sky screamed, beating against Torres' shoulders futilely, before collapsing in hysterical sobs. All Gibbs and Torres could do was hold her, and watch as the smoke poured out of the building.

The fire department pulled up and the fire was quickly put out. When Torres checked with the ambulances, he found out there were some injuries reported, mostly due to the explosion, which had caused blown windows and damaged walls, originating from Sky's apartment. Gibbs had gotten Sky out of the area, concerned that whoever set the fire might still be watching, especially in light of the photo Danny had sent her.

The fire chief spoke to Torres, once he realized who he was and what was going on.

"It's hard to say at this point, but I'm thinking arson," Chief Tyler said, wiping soot off his face. "Couple of guys found melted plastic on the bottom of their boots when they were in the living room, and with the way that explosion was, I'd say gasoline."

"One of the tenants remembered seeing some guy carrying two large Tide liquid detergent containers about half an hour before the explosion," Torres said, having been talking to some of the tenants, several of whom had described Sky as having a sunny personality and always willing to talk about her pets and help others with theirs.

"Those are about four liters each, just over a gallon, and if that was actually gasoline, then that's one hell of an explosion," Chief Tyler said.

"And if you want to buy yourself some time, use wax-coated cord," Torres said. "A long enough cord can buy you about fifteen minutes to half an hour. Seen it before."

"Yeah, same here."

"What's the damage?"

"We got it contained to her apartment, thanks to a couple of tenants grabbing some fire extinguishers, but it's bad. Found what looks like two tanks and a bird cage, all occupants dead," Chief Tyler said.

"She had a cockatiel, a lizard, and a snake," Torres said.

"Not anymore. If the fire didn't kill them, the explosion would have," Chief Tyler said. "As for the rest of the apartment, it's not going to be habitable for quite some time. There's water, smoke, fire, and explosion damage. Her bedroom took the least of the damage because it was the furthest away, but the kitchen and the living room are bad. Thing is, if the guy did use a simple gasoline fire bomb, then either you're working with someone who doesn't care who gets hurt, or someone with not a lot of technical knowledge."

"And someone who knew where her apartment was, which means inside knowledge," Torres said. "And that is not good."

Back at NCIS, Cooper had been alerted to the new development, and he was not happy. Their witness was under attack, and if they weren't careful, they could wind up with a dead witness.

Danny Henday had been found and brought to NCIS, and now he was in an interrogation room with Gibbs, who was, justifiably, mad as hell.

"Who sent you this picture?" he demanded, slamming the photo down in front of Danny, who flinched.

Danny Henday was a nursing student Sky had met at an animal shelter volunteer gathering a few months back, and while they had dated, it hadn't been anything serious, according to Sky, largely because both were busy with their respective lives.

"I don't know! I swear!" Danny yelped. "Wait a minute, you're the guy in the picture," he realized. HIs face started going pale. "Was Sky messing with you?"

"No, you moron! She's under federal protection, and you damn near blew her cover!" Gibbs snarled. "As it is, her apartment was just blown up! Did you do that?"

Danny shook his head. "No, I swear! I was just going to post some private pictures of her on Facebook, that kind of thing, not blow up her apartment! Besides, I was looking for a reason to dump her anyway!"

"Why?" Gibbs demanded. "Seems to me when someone accuses someone of cheating on them, it's because they're doing the cheating. Were you cheating on Sky? _Were you?_ "

"No! She was just too much for me to handle! Her tattoos, her energy, her hair, she wouldn't tone it down! I got stared at everytime I went out with her! I thought I could get her to tone herself down, but she wouldn't! She wouldn't… I just couldn't get a handle on her!"

"You don't _handle_ a woman like Sky," Gibbs snarled, leaning in close, causing the younger man to shrink back in his chair. "You either walk beside her, with her, as she is, or you get the hell out of her way, because if you can't walk beside her and accept her for who she is, then you don't deserve her." He stood up. "Your phone is mine, I am going to tear your life apart, and if I find out you had anything to do with the fire at her apartment, I will haul your ass into the nearest jail cell!"

"I should have known. Women like Sky, they don't ever settle down with guys like me," Danny snapped, trying to show some bravado.

"Because a woman like Sky deserves someone who will treat her like a goddess, not something to be handled, so why should she settle for less?" Gibbs shot back, before slamming the door behind him.

In the bullpen, Bishop and McGee were typing furiously. Bishop was pulling Danny's life apart, trying to see if he had any connection to their victims, while McGee dove into Danny's call history.

"Got the number for where the picture came from," McGee said as Gibbs stormed into the bullpen. "Tracing it now. And boss? It matches the number from Dr. Yun's cell phone, when he was getting those threatening messages."

"Who does it belong to?" Gibbs snapped.

"It's a prepaid burner," McGee said. "No name so far, but if I can get a warrant, maybe we can figure out where it's been sending the messages from."

"Get it," Gibbs said. "Bishop?"

"This guy is boring. His hobbies include collecting stamps and postcards, and occasionally helping out at the food bank, when it doesn't interfere with his student nursing," Bishop said. "There are a few pictures of him and Sky together, with Abby commenting that they looked like a cute couple, but truthfully? This guy won't even go near a bar because he thinks they get too rowdy for him."

"A bar is too rowdy for him?" McGee repeated, eyes a bit wide. "What's tame? A live theater production?"

"Yup, and he recently went to _West Side Story_ , without Sky, of course," Bishop said. "He loved it so much he praised it for about three paragraphs, and when asked where Sky was, he said she was busy doing something with her animals."

"What about Sky's page?" McGee asked.

"Animals, tattoos, pictures of her and Abby, her volunteer work at the shelters, her trips with Dr. Yun and Dr. Anderson out of the clinic," Bishop said. "Completely different. Oh, and at one point, she gave tips on how to do a lap dance, and some tips on pole dancing. Photos included. And high praise from a few girls who tried it on their boyfriends. And wow."

"Wow what?" Gibbs snapped, coming over to her desk and looking over her shoulder. His eyes went a little wide. It was Sky, in a hot pink and purple striped bra top and boyshorts. "That's an interesting tattoo," he said, as Bishop scrolled through the photo set, which showed her demonstrating her pole dancing moves, and a few lap dance moves. The tattoo he was referring to was the horse and flower tattoo on her thigh. "Don't let Torres see that. We'll never get his eyes back into his head."

"Speak of the devil," McGee said.

"Wow," Torres said, having quietly come out of the elevator and seen the pictures. "Were Abby's tats like that?"

"Not like that, but close," McGee said. "And don't ask how I know. Trust me."

"Okay, but is there one of Sky's back?" Torres asked hopefully.

"You mean this one?" Bishop asked, bringing up a photo of Sky showing off her back tattoo, which was a well-done phoenix tattoo, complete with feathers on fire.

"I am never going to be able to put my eyes back in my head," Torres said, eyes wide. "Wow."

"What do you got?" Gibbs demanded to Torres, trying to get him back on track. It was either that or head slap him, and Gibbs was sorely tempted.

"Fire department says his guys found melted plastic on the bottom of their boots, and a witness remembers seeing a guy lugging two large Tide liquid detergent containers about half an hour before the explosion," Torres said. "All three pets are dead, and the place is a mess. It'll be another few hours before the fire department thinks its safe enough for anyone to go back in, but it looks like most of the fire was in the living room."

"How did the guy get in?" Gibbs asked. "Sky was supposed to have had two deadbolt locks on that door."

"Hard to say. Door was damaged as a result of the blast," Torres said. "But if you know what you're doing, or if you have a key, it shouldn't be too hard. And don't even ask for cameras; that place doesn't have any, and none of the floors had any personal security cameras. And nothing in the area. Aside from the old lady seeing the guy, the neighbours tend to keep their head down and mouths shut, but several people did say Sky was a very nice person and always willing to help with their pets, which was restricted to one cat or one small dog, or small birds, reptiles, and fish."

"What about Danny?" Gibbs asked.

"No one really remembers seeing him," Torres said.

"And they probably wouldn't have, because it seems he likes snakes about as much as you do," Bishop said. "There was a post about him avoiding the reptile exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute because of the snakes. While Danny was avoiding it, Sky was having a great time with the corn snake." She showed them a picture of a beaming Sky with a corn snake wrapped around her arm and a grinning zoo keeper. The caption was, " _I got to handle this handsome beast today! Shout out to Brandon at the Smithsonian Zoo for letting me do this! I had a great time!_ "

"Danny didn't deserve her," Gibbs said.

"How is she?" Torres asked.

"With Sloane right now," Gibbs said. His desk phone rang; it was MTAC calling to let him know he had a call from Cooper.

" _We have a serious problem_ ," Cooper said. " _My guys were running through the clinic's files, including their drug inventory, and we found a discrepancy._ "

"What kind of a discrepancy?" Gibbs asked.

" _Certain drugs were being ordered in a certain amount, but by the time they got to the storage room, there were several missing. And we're talking several vials, not just one or two, particularly of gabapentin, which is a strong pain reliever, ketamine, and propofol_."

"All worth a fortune in the right hands," Gibbs said, scowling. "Who's doing the signing?"

" _Someone who's handwriting sucks_ ," Cooper said. " _We're going through the cameras to try and see who accepted the shipments, but there's no camera on the storage doors, so we may have to do some kind of sting operation. How's your witness? Do you think she'd be able to tell me anything?_ "

"She might, but she's hurting pretty bad right now. Fire department says the apartment is a mess and her pets are dead. Boyfriend accused her of cheating on him and dumped her. We think she was being watched by someone who knew she was taking care of Artemis and her pups because the picture was of her and me at Gunnery Sergeant Morales house, after we dropped Artemis off."

" _Damnit. Any luck finding out where that picture came from?_ "

"Burner phone. We're trying to figure out where it was sending the messages from, maybe get an idea of a suspect," Gibbs said.

" _Have your guy call me. My guys have been working on Wilson's phone; thinking we need to compare numbers._ "

"What about Dr. Marks?"

" _Right now, he's Suspect Numero Uno, and we plan on bringing him in, in the near future. We want to know why his wife's car was seen in the vicinity of the gas station that Dr. Yun was kidnapped at._ "

"What about his wife?"

" _She's been out of town for the last three weeks, visiting her mother_ ," Cooper said. " _Haven't told her anything, but I'm beginning to suspect she suspects something about her husband messing around, because she's suddenly got a separate bank account, and when we checked her phone, we found a number for a lawyer who's a known shark in court_."

"She knows," Gibbs said, grinning. "Rule sixty-nine: never trust a woman who doesn't trust her man. If she's already got a lawyer, chances are she's hired a private investigator, who might know something."

" _Which is going to be my next call_ ," Cooper said. " _If your witness needs anything, let me know. I'm sure we can find something for her_."

"Will do," Gibbs said.

When he went back downstairs, it was to discover Danny heading for the elevator with an agent, and he was now sporting a red mark on his face.

"McGee?" Gibbs demanded.

"We can't find anything to connect him to the recent apartment explosion, and the picture came from the burner phone," McGee said. "He said charge him or let him go."

"You stay within reach, or I will find you," Gibbs snarled at the cowering young man.

"Sky's hand already did," Sloane said, joining them. She smiled sweetly at Danny, who looked everywhere except at them, and quickly got on to the elevator. "They crossed paths in the hallway and he made the mistake of opening his mouth. Said that unless she toned herself down, no man was ever going to want her. That was when she slapped him and asked him how that was for toning it down. Said she was loud, she was proud, and if he couldn't keep up with her the way she was, then he didn't deserve to stay with her, because unlike him, her words and her heart were the same thing. When he demanded to know what woman showed off her body the way she did on her Facebook page, she shouted, 'I do! And that's the last you'll ever see of it, gobshite!'"

"Wow," Torres said. "Where is she now?"

"Back in my office. She's very fond of the corner near the couch and the wall, and I'm trying to see if we have a blanket anywhere," Sloane said. "She's hurting real bad right now. She feels like she's lost everything, so I'm really hoping we can salvage something from her apartment."

"We should know in a few hours, but we are going to need to talk to her," Gibbs said. "CID found a discrepancy in the clinic drug inventory and they want to know if she knows anything."

Sloane nodded. "I'll talk to her."

"Talk to Kasie. Abby used to keep a futon in her office, and Kasie might still have it there, along with a blanket," McGee said. "We used it a few times over the years."

"Good to know. Now, does anyone know where I can find the most scruffy-looking cat? Think Sky could use a buddy right now, and I don't think a cute kitty is going to cut it. She needs someone who needs her."

"Well, there's the Humane Rescue Alliance," Bishop said. "I could reach out to them, see what they say."

"Do it," Gibbs said. "McGee, work with CID; they're going through Wilson's phone and I want to see if there's any numbers that match."

"Makes sense," McGee said, picking up the phone. "We can also compare it to Private Cameron and Brunno. Someone has to know something."

"Do we still move Sky to a safehouse?" Torres asked.

"I would recommend it," Sloane said. "I would also recommend she not be left alone for too long right now. She's a tough lady, but she's seen too much over the last few days and needs time and an ear. And a hug or two."

"Hey Gibbs, someone else is looking for Sky," Bishop said, her brow furrowing. "A message just popped up on her Facebook page from a law firm in Baltimore, Maryland. They're asking her to contact them."

"Find out if they're legit or not," Gibbs said.

"Already doing so," Bishop said.

"What would a law firm want with Sky?" Torres asked.

"Well, she used to live there," Sloane said. "That's where she grew up, and once she finished her veterinary assistant program training, she headed here."

"Why?" Gibbs asked.

"Because I accidently killed a guy, and I kinda didn't want to stick around after that," came Sky's tired voice.

The team looked up and saw her standing there, a wool shawl wrapped around her shoulders.

"What do you mean?" Gibbs asked.

"Remember I said I used to do exotic dancing as a means of paying my tuition?" Sky asked. When Gibbs nodded, she continued. "Well, I also did gigs on the side, outside of the club, for old guys with loads more money and a real kinky streak but who didn't want their so-called respectable buddies to know about their kinky streak."

"Old money or big money?" Sloane asked gently.

"Both. And always private parties. One gig could net me over five hundred. Anyway, the last time I did, this one guy I'd been dancing for for a while, things went a little farther than they should have, and two days later, I found out he'd died of a heart attack," Sky said. "But not before he paid off the rest of my tuition at the college. That was when I got the hell outta there, and I haven't been back since, so if that law firm is looking for me, it's probably to sue me for his death."

"I don't know but we'll find out," Sloane said, rubbing the younger woman's shoulders. "Somehow, though, I don't think you caused his death, not if he lived long enough to pay off your tuition."

Sky shrugged. "I don't know, and right now, I don't care. Is there some place I could just sleep for a while? Please?"

Sloane smiled. "Sure. Come this way."

As soon as they were out of earshot, Gibbs said, "Bishop-"

"Already on it," Bishop said, typing fast.

"And we have a matching number," McGee said, having been on the phone with an officer from CID. "Cooper and another agent are on their way over. We may have just found the fourth guy and a possible connection to Dr. Marks."

"This should be fun," Torres said, grinning.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Cooper had brought in another agent, Staff Sergeant Sarah Duncrest, and she was bright, cheerful, and eager to work with NCIS. She was also friendly, and kind, as she had found out about Sky losing her home and beloved pets, and brought her a Deadpool blanket with sleeves, a coffee mug with Stitch on it, and a very large rainbow-colored bear from Build-A-Bear.

"I know it's not much, and I know this cutie can't replace your pets, but we all need something to hold on to, and I always like holding on to my bears," Duncrest said, smiling shyly at the other woman.

"Thank you," Sky said, smiling back tiredly. She accepted the hug Duncrest gave her, which was warm and firm.

"I hate to have to ask this, but do you remember anything about the fourth guy?" Duncrest asked.

"Black hair, stitched up left forearm from getting a bullet taken out, same green and brown camo as the others, and black face paint," Sky said, settling back down in her corner, wrapping the Deadpool blanket around her. "I was too far away to really see eye color or anything, but I can tell you he was Caucasian. Oh, and it looked like the stitch work was kinda sloppy, because Dr. Yun was fadistious with his stitch work. But then again, when you're heart-poundingly scared, being neat is probably the last thing on your mind."

"Good point. Did you know we found a discrepancy in the drug logs?" Duncrest asked, pouring steaming hot chocolate into the Stitch mug from a large thermos she'd brought with her, before settling on the floor next to her.

"No, I didn't. Which ones?" Sky asked.

"Propofol, ketamine, and gabapentin," Duncrest said. "What's being ordered is not what's going into storage."

"Gabapentin is a painkiller and anxiety medication for cats, depending on the dosage," Sky said, her brow furrowing. "Propofol and ketamine, I can understand, if you're going where I think you're going, which is out the back door, but gabapentin?"

"Gabbies get used with other drugs for their euphoric effects," Duncrest explained. "The other name is Johnnies, and trust me, anyone selling that stuff, combined with the ketamine and propofol, is going to be making some pretty nice extra cash."

"Is it true that the drug business is mostly a cash business?" Sky asked.

"It is," Gibbs said, having joined them. He was seated on the couch next to Sky, with Sloane, Cooper, Bishop, McGee, and Torres in the room. "That's what makes our job harder; because ninety percent of what goes on is cash transactions. Most of the time we find out who's doing what when we find the cash, or the suspect's accounts suddenly get big deposits."

"So being flush with cash would be a literal term?" Sky asked, sipping the hot chocolate.

"It would be. Have you seen anyone like that lately?" Gibbs asked.

"I was told he had a side business going, dealing in military antiques or something," Sky said, "because I once saw him take a wad of cash out of his wallet to pay for his 'friend's' lunch one day, the same friend I saw cleaning his dipstick."

"Dr. Marks," Gibbs said, recognizing the phrase.

"Dr. Marks," Sky confirmed.

"If he is a dealer, he's not being too smart about it," Sloane said. "How is that you see all these things?" she asked Sky.

"Because the girls and I like to talk, and there's a place near the clinic that we like to go to for lunch, the same place Dr. Marks goes to," Sky said. "And he does, pretty much every day, so if he was going to be dealing there, it would be at this luncheon, because the last couple of times the girls and I were there, he was there too, and was always greeting his 'friends' who stopped to chat, and they always double-handed shook hands."

"Wondering if we should set up a sting," Cooper said, leaning against the wall. "If we can get him for the drugs, maybe we can see what his connection is to Dr. Yun, other than the intense dislike."

"I know he's looking for me," Sky said. "He was the one that said that bad things happen to people who don't do as they're told. And if someone described him to me, like what maybe that Wilson guy did, then he would know who I was and where to find me, and yes, he would have access to my address and my phone number because it's in the files on the computers at the clinic, along with everything else, including banking information, because we do direct deposit, plus our vehicles are registered so we know who's in the parking lot and who's not supposed to be there, and any medical information we might have about ourselves, family information, the whole kit and caboodle."

"Wow," Duncrest said, eyes a bit wide. "Can you access those files remotely or is it something that's done onsite?"

"It's done onsite and is password protected," Sky said. Her brow furrowed again. "I just remembered something; I don't know what you know about the alarm system, but the access codes to turn off the alarm or turn it on, are our employee id numbers. It's also how we clock in and out. What access code was used on the alarm?"

Cooper pulled out a notebook and flipped it open to a page. He read off a series of six numbers. Sky shook her head. "That's not Dr. Yun's number. I don't know whose that is, but it's not his and the reason I know is because his starts with a seven, which he once said was a lucky number."

"Would he have known the numbers of the others?" Cooper asked, making a note in his notebook.

"Probably, and if you check the employee files, it wouldn't be hard to find out who's number that was," Sky said. "And yes, I do have access to the computers at the clinic, but I don't know if that would be legal."

"We could get a warrant, if that helps," Cooper said.

"On what grounds? You have no real proof of suspected drug activity, other than messed up inventory logs, and you still don't know who this fourth guy is," Sky said. "I'm not trying to make your job difficult, but my clinic is a good clinic, and I won't have you guys turning it into a witch hunt, murder or not."

"I understand," Sloane soothed. "But right now, we know someone is after you, someone who knew where you lived and knew about Danny, and that means someone had access to your private information."

"Danny and I were posted on Facebook," Sky protested.

"But not your home address," Sloane said. "From what we've been able to figure out, someone went to your apartment with two Tide jugs filled with gasoline, lit a wick, and let the gas blow, and that someone targeted your apartment specifically, right after you get that threatening message from Dr. Marks, and Danny gets that picture of you and Gibbs, which means someone knows who you are and has been watching the places you're known for showing up at, like Gunnery Sergeant Morales place." Sky curled up tight, holding her bear even tighter. "Whoever it was that blew up your apartment and killed Dr. Yun is not afraid of spilling blood, even if it means yours. I know you're scared, but we really need your help with this. Can you get us into the clinic files?"

"If I do, what's going to happen to me when this is all over? I won't be able to stay here, not if word gets out that I helped bust Dr. Marks, if he really is the bad guy," Sky said.

"You're under federal protection, and that means we can relocate you some place out of his reach, if need be," Cooper said. "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere where I can keep doing what I love, which is taking care of animals," Sky said. "I can't stay away from them anymore than a drug addict can stay away from their drug of choice."

"We might be able to help you with that," Bishop said. "I reached out to that law firm in Maryland. They're not looking to sue you over Andrew Manson, they're looking for you because he left you something. Apparently you two talked a lot?"

Sky blushed and dipped her head. "Yeah, we did. He knew what I was doing and why, and he was pretty generous with his tips, which was nice because I was on such a tight budget at the time, so I was able to afford extra things like a couple extra boxes of mac and cheese, the good stuff, not the dollar store stuff."

"Well, the lawyer, a guy by the name of Kyle Lynchburg, is on his way over to NCIS. He has some papers for you, and he's promised me he's not out to hurt you. In fact, he thinks you'll be able to do much, much more," Bishop said. "He wouldn't tell me what, but he did suggest you start looking at what college you would need to go to in order to get the letters DVM added to your name."

"DVM? That's Doctor of Veterinary Medicine," Sky said, her brow furrowing again. Then her eyes went wide.

"Is that what you originally wanted to do, but couldn't afford to do?" Sloane asked gently.

"Mmmhmm, and Andrew knew," Sky said. "He was the only one that did, and he knew I wanted to open up a clinic just like Dr. Jeff's, from Colorado, from _Dr. Jeff Rocky Mountain Vet_ , but he also knew I couldn't afford to get those letters, because I was just trying to get by with what I had now."

"Well, I think, and this is a big guess, I think Andrew knew and wanted to make sure you could achieve your dream, because I had a look at the rest of his family," Bishop said.

"Old money," Sky said.

"And absolutely no ambition beyond maintaining their current social status," Bishop said. "You may have just been Andrew's private dancer, but you had something the rest of his family didn't, and that was ambition to make this world a little better."

"When the lawyer comes, one of us will be with you to make sure he doesn't play games," Gibbs assured Sky, already thinking of a legal assistant he could trust to help them.

"And then what?" Sky asked.

"Then you go where you want," Gibbs said. "Anywhere that's within reach of NCIS or CID, that is."

"We'll help you rebuild, if you help us figure out what's going on at the clinic, and who killed Dr. Yun," Cooper said.

"Wasn't that one of the Privates?" Sky asked. "The fourth guy was getting stitched up, two guys chased after me, and one of them shot Dr. Yun, and that leaves Andy Wilson giving the order."

"We didn't find weapons at their places that matched the bullet in Dr. Yun," Cooper said. "The guns we did find, they do match the bullet, but they've been wiped clean of prints, so we can't prove who actually fired the gun."

"What about Private Brunno? Surely he would have said something by now," Sky pleaded.

"He's not talking, and JAG got him a tough defense lawyer, who's preventing him from talking pending a deal with the prosecution and your testimony," Torres said.

"Aaaggh!" Sky yelped in frustration.

"If it helps any, we did confirm he was there, because we found his face and his prints, and yours, on the storage room door, so we have him for that," Cooper said, understanding her frustration. "That was a nice hit, by the way."

"I was scared, and I can be pretty creative when I'm scared," Sky admitted, thinking hard. "Okay, okay, I can get you guys in the clinic and into the computer, but I don't have access to files that the doctors do, because my clearance isn't that high. I can get into the patient files, but I can't get into the personnel files, and I don't know about the inventory files because I've never really had to look at them because that was never my department, other that getting the required medications."

"Leave that to us," Duncrest said, cracking her knuckles. "But right now, we need to do a major number comparison."

"In that case, this way," McGee said, gesturing towards the door.

Sky's phone rang and she stared at it, eyes wide. "It's the clinic again," she said.

"Put it on speaker," Gibbs said. The room immediately went quiet.

Sky answered her phone and put it on speaker. "Sky here," she said.

" _It's Dr. Marks. Where the hell are you? You are supposed to be at the clinic, doing your job, not fooling around with some agency the Army has nothing to do with!_ " came Dr. Mark's harsh voice.

"I understand that NCIS has no direct connection to the clinic or the Army, sir," Sky said, "but Dr. Sullivan approved of the consult, and I don't know when I'll be back. I understand it's a hassle, sir, especially in light of Dr. Yun, but this was approved, and I did agree to it as a favor to an old friend, and you know-"

" _Shut up! I don't care about your so-called excuse of a friend!_ " Dr. Marks snapped, causing a few raised eyebrows. " _You either get back here and do your damn job, or I will see to it that you are fired, do you understand me?_ "

Gibbs took the phone. "This is Director Vance, NCIS. May I ask why you are continuing to harass _my_ consultant? We're wasting time on a time-sensitive case, and you have been told she will come back when the case is closed, whenever that may be. Now, if this, or you, continue to be a problem, I can have a conversation with your CO about this, and I'm pretty sure it won't go well."

" _I don't care_ ," Dr. Marks snapped. " _Skylar is a civilian hired by the Army, and that means I can and I will fire her if I see fit. NCIS has no jurisdiction over us, which means you can go screw your black ass into the nearest fire hydrant for all I care!_ "

"Wow!" Bishop mouthed, eyes a bit wide, watching as Sloane quickly whispered something in Sky's ear, who nodded.

" _Skylar either shows up at the clinic within the next twelve hours, or I will see to it that her ass is fired and she never works at another veterinary clinic again!_ " Dr. Marks continued.

"Dr. Marks, let me make something very, _very_ clear," Sky said softly, making her voice go cold and deadly. "If you fire me, for any reason, and I do mean _any_ , and if that firing is not agreed upon by Dr. Sullivan, your wife will be getting a visit from me, and I will tell her everything I know about your 'colleague'. You know, the one who gave your dipstick some lipstick. And yes, I will also testify at your divorce hearing." Dr. Marks didn't say a word, and Sky continued, with Sloane's coaching. "So the way I see it, _Doctor_ , you have a choice. Either play nice and let me do what was approved of, by the higher ups no less, or I will be letting the whole world, and your lovely wife, know exactly just what kind of man you _really_ are. I have nothing to hide, but you do. Are you really ready to fire me, just to risk having those secrets brought to light?" Dr. Marks remained silent. "I'll take that as a 'no'. Thing you need to remember is I'm not Army, and that means I don't have to play by any rules except mine, so don't you dare threaten me again. You will not take away what's mine, or I will go after everything that is yours. Have a nice day, _Doctor_ , and I will see you when I see you. Oh, and do expect a call from Dr. Sullivan in the near future." And with that, she ended the call. Staring at her phone with wide eyes, she said, "And _that_ was scary." She glanced up at the other agents. "I hear Honolulu has a fantastic zoo. Would it also happen to have a veterinary school too?"

"I don't know, but we can find out," Cooper said, "if you think you're game enough to help us with Dr. Marks and those files. If Dr. Marks is dealing and if he did have a hand in Dr. Yun's murder, help us take him down, and we'll help you relocate to Honolulu, if that's where you want to go."

Sky was quiet for a moment, then said, "When you walk up to opportunity's door, don't knock on it. Kick that bitch in, smile, and introduce yourself. That's what the Rock said."

"He also said, 'When life puts you in touchy situations, don't say 'Why me?' Just say, 'Try me,'" Torres said. "You game?"

"I'm game," Sky said. "But after this, I'm visiting my favorite tattoo shop. I want a new tat."

"Deal," Gibbs said.

"Let's just hope Director Vance doesn't hear of your impersonation of him," Sloane said, grinning.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"We have a hit!" Duncrest yelped happily from her station, where she had been set up with McGee.

"Boss, that burner cell we found on Danny's phone? It matches numbers from both Privates and Wilson's phone," McGee said. "And we have a second one that comes up regularly on Wilson's phone, including the night of the murder."

"What about Marks?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing on the cell phone that's registered to him, which suggests he may have one not publicly registered to him," Duncrest said. "We've been checking the cell towers where the burner phone has been used, and there's a couple of places in common in the circles; the Biker Garage Bar, the clinic, and the luncheon."

"Didn't you arrest a bunch of guys from that bar fight?" Bishop asked Cooper, an idea coming to her mind.

"The local police did, yeah, and they should have been processed by now," Cooper said, heading for a computer, seeing where she was going. He did some fast typing and pulled up photos of about a dozen unhappy-looking men. "And guess what? One of them had his left forearm bandaged up." He brought one of the pictures to the center. "Meet Dylan Savage, P.O. box on his driver's license, so no idea where he lives. No known affiliations, and several arrests for assault. His victims were, well, well, well, black men."

"So not the kind of guy to hesitate going after someone like Dr. Yun," Torres said.

"Not in the slightest," Cooper said, reading through Dylan Savage's arrest record. "In fact, let it be known that when he was arrested, he made several racial slurs towards the arresting officers in regards to their skin coloring, et cetera, et cetera."

"Did he say how he got that injury?" Gibbs asked.

"Not according to the report, other than to cuss at the officers when they were dealing him. The arresting officer said it looked pretty sore," Cooper said. He pulled up a booking photo of Dylan's forearm, which showed several stitches amid angry red skin.

"Found something of interest," Bishop said. "According to what we know, Dr. Yun made reference to a bullet, and that looked like a bullet wound from buckshot, which means shooting. So I've been checking to see if there was a report of a shooting that night, and I found one." She threw the report up on the plasma. "Four guys, matching the description of our guys, were reportedly trying to vandalize the home of family located several miles outside of Quantico, when the owner fired a shotgun at them. He believed he hit one of them but wasn't sure because they took off, but not before doing considerable damage to his barn, where his son kept his prized 4-H angora rabbits. And get this; the family is Muslim and this is not the first time they've been targeted."

"You got a name for that family?" Cooper asked. "Because I'm wondering if someone at the clinic knew about them. I don't think it was a coincidence the family was vandalized and then one of the suspects goes to the clinic for a repair job."

"Think Sky might know?" Torres asked.

Once the family was described to her, Sky did indeed recognize them.

"I do remember them. The boy, Quadeer, I remember he was very proud of his baby rabbits, talking about their fur quality and characteristics, and which ones he was going to try and enter in the next 4-H animal show. Cuddly little guys. I remember playing with them for a bit," Sky said. "His father was a nice guy, but I got the feeling he didn't quite know what to make of me or my tats." She grinned. "Most people don't. But yeah, I remember seeing the mother there too, a very nice lady wearing a pretty hijab, and I remember complimenting her on it, saying I liked the color and the pattern, which caused her to blush, I think."

"Were there any problems from any of the staff over them?" Cooper asked.

"Not as far as I can remember. I know Dr. Marks was at the clinic that day, but I think it was Dr. Anderson who attended to them. In fact, I think it was a pretty quiet day. You could ask Dr. Anderson if anything happened; she might know," Sky said.

"Would their religion be on the patient files?" Gibbs asked.

"No, that kind of information has nothing to do with the patients or their caregivers. The only information about the patient's caregivers should be their names and contact information, and whether or not they have pet insurance, and if they do, what company and the numbers that go with it," Sky said.

"Okay," Cooper said.

"And I think I remember that guy," Sky said, studying the photo of Dylan Savage. "He might have a dog, a small one." She tilted her head, thinking, then she smirked. "Yeah, I remember him. He had a real cute pug who was super sweet and needed a teeth cleaning. This guy, on the other hand, needed his mouth cleaned because when he came out of the washroom, I told him his garage was open, which it was. He asked me if I'd seen his Harley, and I said no, I saw a mini bike with two flat tires."

"Whoop there it is, boy!" Duncrest yelped, laughing, while everyone else either cringed, cracked up, or snorted with laughter.

"Thanks to lots of work experience in various settings, including as a receptionist for a tattoo parlor, I got real good at slapping nuts without ever laying a hand on them, even though I think that's what most of them were hoping I'd do," Sky said, shrugging. "Anyway, yeah, I remember that guy, and I remember that Dr. Marks did greet him with some recognition. Are those two connected, maybe?"

"We haven't found anything to suggest that, but Dr. Marks may have a burner phone as well," McGee said.

"Which would make sense if he was dealing drugs," Torres said.

Cooper got on the phone. "Calling the PD and having him brought here," he explained. "As far as I'm concerned, he's our suspect and I want a word with him."

"That would get us his phone as well," McGee said.

Then Gibbs' phone rang. It was a JAG lawyer who identified himself as defending Private Brunno, and against his advice, wanted to talk to Gibbs about what went down the night Dr. Yun was murdered.

"Bring him in, but understand this; we are not playing games. We have Andy Wilson and Dylan Savage," Gibbs said. "And we want Dr. Marks."

" _I'll let him know_ ," Lieutenant Mackabee said, sounding defeated. He ended the call.

"Private Brunno has suddenly decided to talk," Gibbs told the group.

"Finding out Private Cameron was murdered after being told he would be taken care of by Wilson, that might have had something to do with it," Torres said. "Boy's had time to think."

"But even if Private Brunno does give up Dr. Marks, we still need to prove it," Duncrest said. "Which means we need that other phone."

"Any luck with that private detective from the wife's side?" Gibbs asked Cooper.

"He's refusing to talk until he talks to the wife," Cooper said. "Pain in the ass."

"Which will alert the wife that CID is looking at Dr. Marks and she might alert him," Torres said. "If I was going to be divorcing my partner, and CID or NCIS suddenly started talking to the private detective I'd hired, I'd be wondering what's going on."

"So we bring her in. If she's mad enough, she might be able to help us get his other phone," Cooper said, an idea coming to his mind.

But when they called Mrs. Marks, they discovered she was out of the country and would remain so for some time.

" _I don't know all of what that bastard is doing behind my back, but I do know it ends because as soon as I can, I am handing him divorce papers,_ " Mrs. Marks snarled.

"We talked to your private investigator, and he won't help us unless he talks to you first," Cooper said.

" _He hasn't done so_ ," Mrs. Marks said. " _But I will tell him to hand over all the photos he has. I want that piece of filth out of my house and out of my life, the lying hypocrite._ "

An hour later, a man in a suit came by NCIS and identified himself as Mrs. Marks' private investigator, Preston Ingall, a former cop turned private investigator.

"I followed this guy for three weeks and got a tone of photos, which I showed the wife," Ingall said, handing over a thick file full of photos. "You looking for anyone in particular?"

"Anyone that looks like these guys," Gibbs said, showing him the plasma, which had photos of Private Cameron, Brunno, Wilson, Savage, and Dr. Marks.

"Right here," Ingall said, pulling out a photo that looked like it had been taken at a bar. "Biker's Garage Bar. He pays cash, so it doesn't show up on his bank statements, but he knows the owner. Real buddy-buddy with them."

Gibbs smirked.

"Any idea where he's getting the cash?" Duncrest asked.

"Check these out," Ingall said, showing them a bunch of photos of Dr. Marks at a luncheon. In a number of the photos, Dr. Marks would greet someone and, just as Sky said, the two people would shake hands with both hands. "Couldn't prove it, but if I had to guess, I'd say drugs. Seen that type of exchange before, and as veterinarian, he's got access to some pretty powerful drugs that would be worth a fortune on the streets."

"Hey Gibbs, looks like Sky was telling the truth about seeing Dr. Marks at the luncheon," Torres said, having been going through some of the photos. "That's her in the background; can't miss that pink hair."

"I remember her. Pretty little lady, always with the same group of girls," Ingall said.

"She have anything to do with Dr. Marks?" Gibbs asked.

"Never saw anything illect, if that's what you mean. I took a friend's dog there for a check-up to check out the layout and she was the one who attended to me. I tried flirting with her, and she was friendly but made it plain she wasn't in the game. Total professional the whole way, and total suck for for the dog. If I weren't married, I would have been tempted to see if she'd be the same suck with me, if given the chance," Ingall said. "Saw her with her boyfriend a few times. Guy was a dick behind her back."

"That guy's been dumped," Bishop said.

"Good," Ingall said.

"And hello there," Torre said softly, holding up a photograph of Dr. Marks double-handing a man wearing a cheap suit and bleary-looking eyes. "Anybody recognize this guy? I'll give you a hint; NCIS busted him a month ago trying to sell drugs to a couple of sailors."

Gibbs grinned. "Put a BOLO out on him," he said.

"Grab him, get him to flip on Dr. Marks, and we have him," Cooper said, seeing where Gibbs was going. Then his phone rang. "Cooper. Really? That's interesting. Seems Dylan's got some explaining to do, now, doesn't he?" He ended the call, grinning broadly. "They just compared Dylan Savage's prints to the ones we found at our crime scene. They're a match; Dylan Savage was definitely there that night."

"That means we have all four there," Gibbs said.

"And their prints are where they had no business being," Cooper said. "Now, all we need to do is figure out who pulled the trigger. I'm guessing either Private Brunno or Cameron, based on what our witness is saying."

"We talk to Private Brunno, he's likely to blame Cameron, just to avoid a life sentence," Torres said. "Dead men don't talk."

"Actually, they do," McGee said, an idea coming to mind. He quickly called Palmer, and asked him to look for GSR on Private Cameron. Then he called Kasie and asked her to check Private Cameron's clothes. "If GSR is on Private Cameron's clothes, he fired the gun. If it's not, Private Brunno fired the gun," McGee explained. "Either way, we know who fired the gun, and we know who gave the order."

"And if we can get Private Brunno to flip on Wilson, we have him by his nuts," Cooper said. "Somebody moved that body and burned it, and I want to know who."

"Until we know for sure, I'm saying all four," Duncrest said.

Gibbs desk phone rang; it was Security, letting him know Private Brunno and his lawyer were there to see them. He smirked as he hung up.

"Time for a chat," he said. "Private Brunno and his lawyer are here."

Cooper grinned.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Private Brunno was quiet and withdrawn, keeping his head down and eyes averted. He only glanced up when Gibbs and Cooper entered the room.

"Private Cooper, this is Staff Sergeant Cooper, CID," Gibbs said.

Brunno nodded.

"I'm Lieutenant Mackabee," the Navy officer said. "Let it be made clear that I am advising against this, but my client has basically told me where to go and how to get there."

"Fine. You know what we want," Cooper said.

"Dr. Marks," Brunno said.

"And we want to know what happened to Dr. Yun," Gibbs said.

"Fine. Cameron killed him on Andy's orders. After that pink-haired bitch knocked me out, Cameron got me out of the room and we got rid of Yun's body," Brunno said. "Then Andy said he would take care of Cameron and to keep my head down for a few days. That was the last time I saw him. Didn't even know he was dead until you told me."

"Why that clinic?" Cooper asked.

"Because Marks said we could. Even had us grab Yun as part of a scare tactic against that chump," Brunno said.

"So how did it go from scaring him to killing him?" Gibbs asked.

"I don't know. Maybe Andy decided he didn't want to leave witnesses, or evidence, but once he gave the order, Cameron didn't hesitate. Guy was always a little trigger-happy with anyone he decided he didn't like," Brunno said.

Cooper shoved a legal pad towards him. "Write it down, all of it, including how Savage got shot in the first place."

"You know about that?" Mackabee asked, eyebrows raised. Both agents glared at him. "Right. You're investigators; it's your job to know these things." As Brunno began to write, Mackabee had a question for them. "What does my client get out of this?"

"What does he want?" Gibbs asked.

"Protection on the inside. He has some serious concerns about what would happen if someone found out about him and his so-called Hammerskins relations," Mackabee said.

"So-called?" Cooper asked.

"Andy's not really affiliated with the Hammerskins, he just wants to scare people into thinking he is," Brunno explained, still writing.

"What about Marks?" Gibbs asked.

"Andy and Dylan send Marks his clients, and Andy gets a kickback from the drugs he sells," Brunno explained.

"Did Marks tell you where you could find Yun?" Cooper asked.

"He had us meet him at the gas station, where he said he knew Yun got his gas and his donut before heading home, like clockwork on certain days."

"But at two am at night?" Cooper asked.

"Marks faked a medical emergency, had him meet him there, and then we ambushed him. He was a doctor and he could be scared into keeping quiet, or so I thought," Brunno said.

"What about the witness?" Gibbs asked.

"We called Marks and told him what we saw, and Marks was cursing. Said he knew who it was and he would take care of her," Brunno said.

"He tried to," Gibbs said. "She's still alive."

"She's a vicious bitch," Brunno grumbled.

"Yeah, air freshener to the eyes would do that," Gibbs said, smirking.

"Was that what it was? I don't remember much after she slammed my face into the door. I do know she got in a hella punt to my nuts," Brunno said.

"Serves you right," Cooper said.

"Is it true she's not Army? Marks said something about that," Brunno said. Both Cooper and Gibbs smirked at him. "Right. Not under any obligation to tell me anything," Brunno said.

"No," Cooper said.

"Does Marks have a burn phone?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, some kind of black thing," Brunno said. "His regular phone has a camo case cover."

"Good to know," Gibbs said.

Then Cooper went after Savage. "We have your prints, we have your blood, and we have a witness that puts you at the scene of Dr. Yun's murder," he said. "Two witnesses, in fact."

Savage just grunted. "What's it worth to me?" he asked.

"Nothing. We know who pulled the trigger on Yun. What we don't know is who pulled the trigger on Cameron," Cooper said.

"That prick is still alive," Savage snapped.

"No, he's not. He's on a metal slab in NCIS's morgue, with his brain missing because their medical examiner removed it to remove the bullet that was embedded in it," Cooper said. He slapped Cameron's autopsy photo on the table. "Surprised?" Savage stared at him, face looking a bit pale. "NCIS wants to know who killed Cameron. Me, well, I already know who killed Yun, and I know you had a hand in getting rid of his body. What I don't know is who tried to fire bomb my witnesses' apartment."

"What's it worth to me?" Savage repeated.

"You staying alive long enough to testify against Dr. Marks," Cooper said. "Someone killed a Marine, and stupid or not, he didn't deserve to die like that."

"I left Cameron with Andy, who said he was going to take him to Dr. Marks," Savage said. "We were told to keep our heads down and don't do anything stupid for a few days, until this blew over."

"Is Marks dealing drugs?"

"Yeah, he is. We hear from people who want certain things, we send them towards him, we get a kickback on everything he sells," Savage said reluctantly.

"Who would have bombed my witnesses' home?"

"Anyone of Marks' buyers," Savage said reluctantly. "There were a few who owed money to him and I broke a few kneecaps over it. Bombing a witnesses' home would be a way to pay that debt off, and easy enough for most stoners to do."

Cooper shoved a notepad and pen at him. "Start writing, and I'll see if I can keep you away from the Marines."

Savage started writing.

Later, Gibbs and Cooper updated Vance.

"We got Savage, Wilson, and Brunno for the murder of Dr. Yun. Wilson still isn't talking, but we have his prints at the scene of the crime. Same with Brunno, Cameron, and Savage," Cooper said. "We also have Brunno's face on the storage room door, just like Sky said."

"Who bombed her place?" Vance said.

"Savage said it could have been anyone of Marks' buyers looking to pay off a debt," Cooper said.

"Did you catch up with that tweaker you guys managed to identify?" Vance asked.

"BOLO's still out on him," Gibbs said.

"We do know Marks did threaten Sky and I do have some serious concerns about her safety," Cooper said. "Thanks to that fire, she's lost everything. What really worries me is he's got her cell phone number and that means he can find her."

"Not if we can help it," Gibbs said.

"What about that ex of her's?" Vance asked.

"We've been watching him closely, since Sky belted him, and the only thing that showed up on his Facebook page is that he was suddenly single, and all photos and mentions of them together have been deleted," Gibbs said. "Bishop did the same on Sky's page, at her request."

"And the lawyer?" Vance asked.

"He was filling a section of Andrew Manson's will, one that said that his estate was to provide Sky with a full ride at whatever college she chose, to complete her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, on the condition that she complete the program and get her DVM," Gibbs said, remembering the way Sky's face had gone pale at that.

"A full ride?" Vance repeated. "Wow. No issues from the family?"

"Manson's estate was worth a couple million. A full ride for someone like Sky, who already has a year's worth of veterinary experience under her belt, which would give her credit at whatever college she chose, would be a drop in the bucket," Gibbs said.

"Does she know where she wants to go?" Vance asked.

"She did mention Honolulu," Cooper said. "And I checked; they do have a college there, and it's good."

"They also have a zoo she was studying very closely," Gibbs said.

"Do we know anyone in Honolulu?" Vance asked.

"Callen did mention a group called Five-Oh that was involved in an investigation with them. Seems they have a habit of not playing by the rules, but they get the job done, and one of them is a SEAL," Gibbs said, remembering a conversation he'd had with the agent a few months ago.

"Check 'em out, find out if they would be willing to help us relocate our witness," Vance said.

"Will do. We're about to go visit the clinic," Gibbs said. "We need to get into the computers and find out which access code was punched in the night of Dr. Yun's murder."

"Why is that important?" Vance asked.

"Because when we checked the numbers, Sky said that the number entered didn't belong to Dr. Yun, who had a seven in his access code, but she didn't know who's number it actually was," Cooper explained. "We might also be able to find out if and when her personnel file was accessed, and compare handwriting to see if we can determine who's been accepting the drug orders. We have our suspicions, but…"

"Understood," Vance said. "And Dr. Marks?"

"We think we have him for drug dealing, but unless we catch him actually doing the exchange, we can't prove it," Cooper admitted. "We also can't prove the burner phone is his unless we can get our hands on it."

"Sky did offer to help with that," Gibbs said. "Dr. Marks did threaten her, and if he's responsible for bombing her home, she's got good reason to be mad."

"She does, but would she be able to?" Vance asked. "And do you have something in mind?"

"He threatened her. What happens if she threatens back?" Gibbs asked.

"Really?" Cooper asked.

"She's just had her home bombed, her life and her livelihood threatened, watched someone die, she's running scared," Gibbs said. "She's going to want money and a trip out of town as fast as possible, and since she knows Marks has money, and there are secrets he wants to keep, she'd be betting he'd pay her to disappear."

"Unless he killed her first," Vance said.

"Which would be our job to prevent," Cooper said. "The only problem I can see, and this has happened, is he tries to retract his confession, or whatever, and this whole thing gets thrown out of court because the confession was, ahem, 'coerced'. Supervisor was not happy about that."

"So we tread carefully, and we put a bug in her ear," Gibbs said. "Then we put her on the next flight outta here, complete with new identity, and admission papers to whatever college she wants."

"Talk to her, see if she'll play, and make sure she understands the risk," Vance said. "Where is she now?"

"Should be on her way to Sloane's place for the night," Gibbs said. "She needs to sleep and wants a shower or a bath."

"Good place to be," Vance said.

But Sloane wasn't so sure, not right at the moment.

"What the hell is that?" she asked, seeing Sky bundle up the furry object that she had just slammed on the brakes for, at Sky's sudden yell of stop.

"A badly matted, very malnourished, needs a major head-to-toe-lookie-loo, kitty," Sky said, getting back in the car. "I don't see any fleas or ticks, but I won't know for sure until I can get this sorry excuse of fur offa him."

"You're going to shave him, aren't you?" Sloane asked, as she put the car back in Drive and continued driving down the highway.

"Have to," Sky said. "There's a pet store over there; they'll have what I need. Good thing my credit card is in the black."

"It's not going to be by the time you're finished with it," Sloane guessed.

"You guessed right. And _you_ have one hella purr motor there, buddy. Yeah, I can hear that little motor of yours going ninety to the mile," Sky said, cooing at the large cat, which stared at her with wide eyes. It had long grey fur that was badly matted, battered ears, a scarred nose, and one eye wasn't looking too good, but even Sloane could hear it purring. "We're gonna put some good food in your belly, get rid of that horrible fur of yours, do something about your eye, check your feet, the whole kit and caboodle. And if you like me, and I can convince the Powers That Be, you're gonna be a Hawaii kitty. Maybe we should give you a handsome Hawaiian name. What say?" she asked, scratching its ears, which resulted in more kneading of the front paws.

"You know, we're supposed to be keeping you safe," Sloane said.

"You are. You're also helping me keep my new buddy safe, and right now, I need him-her," Sky said.

"That you do," Sloane said. "And there's the pet store. Let's see what they have."

What they had was everything Sky needed, including a dog shaving kit, kitty shampoo, toothbrushes (Sloane didn't even know that was possible for cats) a toy the cat had shown interest in, a folding cat carrier, nail clippers, food, and bowls. The only thing the store didn't have was antibiotics for the eye, which was a bit crusted, but Sloane saw the gleam in Sky's eye and got nervous.

"Who are you going to threaten, bribe, or coax?" she asked, once they got in the car.

"Dr. Sullivan. I know for a fact he keeps an emergency kit in his home and car for such emergencies," Sky said. "And he can be trusted, more so than some other people I know."

"And if you show up at his doorstep with a stray cat and an NCIS agent?" Sloane asked.

"Some guy in a suit once showed up with a little girl who had a bruise where she shouldn't have had, and a beautiful, oh-my-gawd-fracking-huge-absolutely-gorgeous Maine Coon cat that needed an x-ray and some bandages for some reason," Sky said. "The suit flashed a badge at the front, and Dr. Sullivan later told us to forget we ever saw the girl or the cat. Didn't even bat an eyelash. Dr. Marks objected, but the file 'accidently' fell in the shredder and the front desk video of that time 'accidently' got deleted."

"Child was in protective custody, and the cat was her pet, probably her protector," Sloane guessed. "Okay." She entered the address into her phone and quickly got directions. Shortly afterwards, they were pulling up to a nice little house and talking to a gentleman with greying hair and a strong military presence.

"What the heck is going on, Sky? First, Dr. Yun is murdered, and CID is investigating, then you go missing, and everyone thinks you're consulting a case with NCIS, and now we're hearing rumors that your place was on fire," Sullivan said, leading them into his garage, which doubled as a small vet office, for emergencies.

"It's a long story, sir," Sky said. "The rumor about my apartment is true, but it depends on who is doing the rumor spreading."

"That would be Marks," Sullivan said. "Prick was almost gleeful about it. And hello, fella. You've had a hard life, haven't you?" he said, starting to examine the cat. "Well, he definitely needs a bath and a shave. And you're right about the antibiotics for his eye. We'll take some blood and I'll run it first thing in the morning, let you know the results."

"Good. I'll make sure he gets pampered silly," Sky said, stroking the cat's head, who didn't seem to have stopped purring. He had also dived into the can of catfood with vigor, growling as he did so.

"That's the best thing for him. That and a certain surgery as soon as possible," Sullivan said, gathering the supplies he needed for the blood draw.

Working quickly, the two were able to withdraw enough blood for Sullivan to run the tests he wanted in the morning. Then he put the necessary antibiotics in the cat's eyes, who, predictably, voiced his annoyance at the stuff.

"Sky, what is going on?" Sullivan asked gently, putting the blood samples in the garage fridge for now.

Sky glanced at Sloane, who nodded. "I was at the clinic the night Dr. Yun was murdered," she said softly, petting the cat's head. "I saw what happened."

Sullivan's eyes went wide. "Oh damn. And Marks? What's his issue with you?"

"I can't go into too much detail because of the case, but what I can say is he's a person of interest in the investigation," Sloane said. "Sky came to you because she said you could be trusted. Can you?"

Sullivan nodded. "On my word as an Army officer and my oath as a veterinarian," he said. "I never saw you and I never heard from you. But, and this is out of genuine concern, will I hear from you, if I don't see you after tonight?"

"I'll send you a postcard. You'll know it's me because it will have a sticker of a cute cat, Doc Sullivan and the clinic address in my handwriting, which you know is distinct," Sky said.

Sullivan nodded. "I can live with that. And if it has anything else but?"

"Then you get ahold of NCIS and me, or Special Agent Gibbs, and you scream as loud as it takes," Sloane said.

"Now that I can do," Sullivan. "And trust me, I am very good at doing that."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

" _I'm in. And then I'm out of here on the next flight out_ ," Sky said. " _I want admission to the University of Honolulu, which has the DVM program. I don't care about my name, as long as I can take Makana with me_."

"Who's Makana?" Vance asked.

" _This handsome beast_ ," Sky said, showing them a large cat with a gummy eye and almost no fur, who was curled up in Sky's lap. " _Jack and I found him on the highway and we had to shave him, so he's not looking at his best right now, but he's got a purr motor that would rival an eighteen wheeler's engine._ "

Sky and Sloane were talking to Gibbs and Vance via video feed. Also in the room was Cooper.

"We know somebody in Honolulu and we'll forward your file to him as soon as you figure out what your new name is going to be," Vance said.

" _Can we play dirty? Jump Marks in the early hours of the morning?_ " Sky asked, a wicked grin coming across her face. " _For all his Yes-sir-Army-sir-stuck-up-his-assitude, the guy is a slug-brain in the early hours of the morning, especially when he gets woken up abruptly. Seen it happen a few times and it's like you have to inject a 30 cc shot of pure caffeine in his ass just to get him moving. There's been a few jokes made at his expense and they went Mach five over his head_ ," she explained, giggling. Then she yelped. " _Makie, watch the claws!_ " They could hear Sloane laughing in the background.

Vance glanced at the other two men, noting Gibbs had a smirk on his face, and Cooper seemed unsure of what to think.

"I think that's a workable idea," Vance said. "I take it you have a plan in mind?"

" _I'm running scared, Director, and I'm mad. You're darn tootin' right I have a plan, the kind even Kevin McAllister would have been proud of, or even Captain Lorca, if he'd survived getting stabbed by Empress Georgiou, and tossed into space. Or was that the mycelial network?_ " Sky flapped her hands. " _Whatever, whatever. Anyway, yes, I have a plan, but for safety reasons, it would be a really good idea if I was wearing a tac vest, y'know, the kind that stops bullets_."

"What's the plan?" Gibbs asked.

And Sky smiled. And Vance started mentally cringing.

McGee, Bishop, and Duncrest would go to the clinic and access the clinic files, using the information provided by Sky. They were to get in, get into the clinic computers, with the help of Dr. Anderson, who had been instructed by Brigadier General Burnham to assist the team to her fullest capabilities. Upon being cleared by both NCIS and CID, he had been informed of what was going on at the clinic and had not been happy about the situation. He had then, through the director of CID, told the two agencies to do whatever they had to do to clean that clinic up, even if it meant putting a bullet through someone.

Dr. Anderson was waiting for them at the back of the clinic when the team got there, warrant in hand.

"I don't like this," she said, reading the warrant. "But I am under orders to assist you, so I will. Does this have anything to do with Dr. Yun's death?" she asked.

"It's related to it, yes," McGee said.

"Okay. I liked Dr. Yun. I'll do what I can," Anderson said, unlocking the clinic and disabling the alarm system.

"Oh, and Dr. Anderson?" Duncrest said.

"Yes?"

"You are under very strict orders not to tell anyone, and I mean anyone, what is going on, until this investigation is finished, because if you do, CID will come after you for obstruction of justice. Is that clear?" Duncrest said coldly.

Anderson nodded reluctantly.

"Let's get to work," McGee said, going to a computer at the receptionist desk area. It didn't take long for them to find what they were looking for, and the news wasn't good.

"Do you recognize this signature?" Duncrest asked Anderson, showing her a log book file, from where someone had signed for the missing drugs.

Anderson shook her head. "That doesn't look like anyone I recognize, or anything I recognize. In fact, it looks like a really bad attempt at a chicken scratch signature." She scrutinized the file. "I do recognize the company though, and the name of the driver. He's a regular with us. You could always ask him."

"When is he due in next?" McGee asked.

"Tomorrow morning," Anderson said. "His name is Charlie, and he's a really nice guy."

"Okay, we will be there," Duncrest said.

"And we have a problem," McGee said, still going through the alarm codes. "This is the number that was punched in the night that Dr. Yun died. Now, this is his number which, as we were told, does have a seven in it."

"Who does that number belong to?" Duncrest asked. When she saw who, she said, "Gonna getcha, getcha, _gotcha._ "

"He knew who set him up," McGee said.

"Our turn," Duncrest said.

Later:

"Wakey wakey, doc," a soft voice whispered, flashing a light in Dr. Marks' eyes. He grunted and rolled over. A hand grabbed him and shoved him over. "No you don't, bucko boy. Wake up, or you get a wet bed."

He cracked one eye open, and then flinched. "What the hell, Emma?" he snarled, batting at the light, which moved out of his way.

"Not Emma, Doc Moron," the female voice said. "Mind you, if she was here, she'd probably take one of your precious scalpels and skin your balls, without using anesthesia. And with the mood I'm in, I'd help her."

"What the hell?" he moaned, trying to sit up and see what time it was. Four-freaking-am, or thereabouts, according to his clock. There was someone standing by his windows, which overlooked the back garden area.

"Hell is about right, considering what you put me through," the female said. "And that means you're going to pay."

"Skylar?" Marks demanded, sitting up, shading his eyes from the glare of the flashlight. "What the hell is going on? How did you get in?"

A piece of paper landed in his lap. It was a photograph of him looking very cozy with a woman who wasn't Emma. _Shit._

"What's going on is you made the bad mistake of threatening me in front of NCIS, you filthy hypocrite," Skylar snarled, for it was her, sort of. She was dressed all in black, including black gloves. "Then I find out from NCIS that you're the one who firebombed my place and killed my pets. Oh, and let's not forget you're a drug dealer."

"I am no such thing!" Marks snapped.

"Really? CID is really good. They found the discrepancy in the logs," she said casually. "Betcha they're gonna have a wee bit of a sitty downy with Charlie boy in a short bit. He has nothing to lose. You? Not so much. You have a lot to lose, Marky my man, a whole lot."

Marks glared at Skylar, trying to remember where his gun was. Oh yeah, in the bedside table off to his left. Skylar continued.

"Now, NCIS has been asking me a whole lotta questions about you and your activities, especially in light of Dr. Yun's death, which was way not fun, by the way."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Marks snarled.

Skylar smiled. "Oh, I think you do, Marky. You see, the very nice guys at NCIS, they don't realize I'm watching and listening. You're screwed tighter than a wine opener in a cork in a bottle of twelve year old whiskey," she said softly. Then she scratched her lip. "But, umm, that could change."

"What do you want?" he demanded, reaching for his glasses, which were in his nightstand, the same nightstand as his gun, turning his back on her deliberately. After all, Skylar knew he was farsighted.

"I want out of this nuthouse place, and that means money, and my inside knowledge says you have it."

"What do you know that's worth my paying you?" he demanded, tucking the gun under his thigh as he faced Skylar again.

"Three words; gabapentin, propofol, and ketamine," Skylar said, holding up her fingers and ticking off three of them. "Dr. Yun. You didn't fire the gun that killed him, but you might as well have given the order, and NCIS knows that. Everyone knows you didn't like him, but only I know you hated him enough to want him gone."

"He wasn't born in this country, he didn't deserve to wear that uniform," Marks snarled.

"These days, neither do you," Skylar shot back. "Whatsa matter, Marky? Army not paying you enough to put up with people like Dr. Yun? So you gotta go dipping into the drug trade?"

"What do you care?" he snarled.

"I care, you moron, because I've seen what those drugs can do to people. But hey, since you started with the threats, you know what I care more about? Gettin' outtta here with my cute little tushy in one piece. So c'mon Mister Big Army Doctor, what's it worth to you for me to disappear for good? I'm thinking the tune of ten grand. That should be enough for me to fly outta here on the next available flight outta here, go some place nice and warm."

"And if I do, if I pay you to vanish, then what?"

"Then NCIS and CID don't get the rest of these pretty pictures, and your wife doesn't find out about the blonde who left pink lipstick on your underwear. Oh, and I don't show up at your trial." She smiled. "I don't care how you do it, but I either get what I want, which gets you what you want, or NCIS and CID will get what they want. You want to keep making money? Pay me."

"How much time do I have? I may need to shake down a few of my buyers. It's not like I've got that kind of money at the drop of a hat."

"You have twelve hours. NCIS has been taking a peek at your banking records. You have the money, Mister Moneybags. I'll call you in six, and you'd better be making progress, or NCIS will have a little pink birdy on their hands."

"Fine," he said, standing up. "There's just one little thing, Skylar. You don't like being threatened. Well, neither do I," he said, showing her his nice little Glock 27 with a .40 caliber bullet that had a habit of punching holes in people.

"And just what are you going to do with that damn gun of yours?" Skylar demanded.

"You're right; I am dealing drugs. My wife likes a certain lifestyle, and I've discovered that so do I. And if that means dealing with low-lifes who can't even stay away from the kind of garbage that the drugs I have offer, well, that's no skin off my nose. They'll be dead one way or another," Marks said. "As for you, you stupid bitch,you'll be joining them."

The gun fired, and Sky was sent backwards, screaming. She hit the window hard, and then went through the window. When she hit the ground, she landed with a heavy thud, and she didn't move.

"Oh dear me," Marks said, tisking, looking out the window at Skylar's body. He picked up his cellphone and dialled 911.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" the operator said.

"My name is Major Marks, US Army. A burglar just broke into my home and I shot him in self-defense," Marks said, moving away from the window. "He fell through my bedroom window, and I think he might be hurt."

"Understood, sir. Please remain on the line. I'm sending police and ambulance your way. What's the address of your location?"

Marks told the operator as he moved through the house, heading for his backyard, where that stupid bitch was.

But when he got there, she was gone, and there was no sign of blood on the ground, or anywhere. All that was left was the broken glass from the window to prove Skylar had gone through it. But beyond that, nothing.

 _What the hell?_

In the darkness of the van, Sky moaned, her chest hurting with every breath she took. Mind you, everything hurt right now. But at least she was hurting, and not dead. Dr. Marks shooting her like that, that had been the last thing anyone had expected, which was why she was really, really, _really_ glad she'd been wearing a flak vest under her clothes. Oh, and the hoodie and jeans, which protected her from the glass.

And Gibbs' warning about what might happen, and his instructions in her ear. That was fun. He and Sloane had been in her ear the whole time, and they had been watching via bodycam, the one that Marky hadn't seem to realize she was wearing.

"Please tell me you got everything you need," she moaned softly, unable to move from her prone position on the floor of the van.

"We did, we got everything we needed," Gibbs assured her. "You did good. Real good."

"Okay. Now what?" she asked.

"Now we get out of here," Torres said, hearing the sirens of the police approaching. "The last thing we need is to blow our cover."

"Torres, step on it," Gibbs instructed.

They were in the black van that was usually issued to the agents during surveillance, and Gibbs, Torres, and Sloane had been hiding in the van with the video camera. When the gun had come out, the agents had gone running to the house, ready to create a distraction, just in case, which turned out to be a good thing, because Sky had gone flying out the bedroom window and hit the ground hard. Thankfully it had been grass, but she had been knocked senseless for a few minutes. Both Torres and Gibbs had quickly grabbed the limp younger woman and gotten her out of the area, with Torres carrying Sky as soon as they were in the shadows, and they had all gotten back to the surveillance van.

"We are outta here," Torres said, hoping into the driver's seat and quickly turning the van on. They were quickly out of the area of Dr. Marks' home before the police arrived.

"Can we add attempted murder charges to that asshat's list of charges?" Sky asked.

"We can and we will," Gibbs promised.

"Okay," Sky said. She tried to take a deep breath, and groaned, holding her chest. "Fracking blacking sugar-burning acid assifying bubblehead slobbery blowjob mack truck fatso," she swore, causing all three agents to grin in amusement. "I knew getting shot hurt, even through a vest, but dangnabit Momma Mary Jesus and Joseph did it have to hurt that much?"

"We can have Ducky take a look at you, make sure there's nothing broken," Sloane suggested. "If Dr. Marks realizes you're not dead, he'll be keeping an ear out on the hospitals for someone like you."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure something is broken," Sky said. "Ribs are fine, judging by the way it feels when I breathe, but the sternum might be a different subject. One of my former roommates was a wannabe YouTuber star adrenaline junkie and he used to do some of the most stupid things, including getting himself whacked in the chest while wearing a ballistics vest. One time he did that, he wound up with a broken sternum. He wound up in hospital and I wound up working a lot of overtime just to pay the damn rent for a few weeks."

"What did he do to have that happen?" Sloane asked.

"You know those airbags in cars, they can be removed right?" Sky said.

"Uh oh," Torres said, having seen a few videos of such things.

"Okay," Gibbs said, a bit confused.

"Byron, vest, and airbag. He was laying on top of it when it was set off," Sky said, counting off with her fingers. "He was sent a good two to three feet straight up, and no, there was nothing between him and the airbag, except the vest."

"And that guy is still alive?" Torres asked incredulously.

"He was wishing otherwise when I got through with him," Sky said. She groaned softly, holding he head, which was feeling like someone was firing cannon balls inside her head. "Anyone got any Advil or Tylenol? My head feels like it's going to explode like Byron's dummy assed airbags."

Sloane and Gibbs did some digging, with Gibbs procuring the painkillers. Back at NCIS, Ducky was waiting for them. While Gibbs and his team took care of the video, Ducky and Sloane took care of Sky, who was now sporting a very large bruise on her chest, as well as numerous bruises and small cuts on her back and legs from the glass and the impact of the ground.

"Any closer, my dear, and that could have been a lot worse," Ducky said, showing Sky the bullet Sloane had gotten out of the vest.

"Can I keep that?" Sky asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Sloane said. "It's evidence that Dr. Marks shot you, and we need to compare the bullet to the one in Private Cameron."

"Damn," Sky said.

"It looks like a .40 caliber bullet," Ducky said. "I do believe Kasie can get you something similar. A trophy of sorts." He held up the x-ray that he had taken of Sky's chest and said, "However, you are going to have to be careful for a bit, I'm afraid. That bullet didn't break anything, but you do have a fractured sternum."

"Anything else broken?" Sky asked.

"Fortunately, no. However, due to the bruises and your cuts, I would recommend a hot bath and some more sleep," Ducky said. "I suspect you are in bad need of both."

"Especially the sleep," Sky said yawning. "Definitely the sleep. It's been a really, really, cra-crazy day, and I got a sneaking suspicion Life's not done with me yet. Oh, and I want to check up on Maki."

"Maki?" Ducky asked, puzzled.

"Makana, my new buddy. Found him on the highway and I'm really hoping I can take him with me wherever I wind up," Sky said, showing Ducky a picture of the cat on her phone.

"He looks a little worse for the wear," Ducky said, eyebrows going up.

"You would be too, if you had to get shaved because of all the mats in his fur," Sloane said. "He's a sweetie, though."

"And he eats like a mob of people at an all-you-can-eat buffet," Sky said. "Can't wait to see what he's gonna look like once his fur grows back right and proper." She yawned again, nearly cracking her jaw.

Two hours later, Torres was hanging up his phone and smiling widely, rubbing his hands gleefully.

"That smile had better mean good news, Torres," Gibbs said.

"Very good news, boss. DCPD just picked up Ernie Fishangles," Torres said.

"They found Fish?" McGee asked, still going through some files.

"They found Fish and they're bringing him here," Torres said. "Seems he wasn't too happy about being caught."

"Make sure he understands we don't want him; we want his dealer," Gibbs said.

"Can I have a little fun with him? Been a while," Torres said.

McGee glared at him. "The last time you had 'fun' with Fish, the janitor had to use a whole bottle of Lysol spray just to get the stink out of the room."

"He craps his pants again, because of you, you're cleaning it up," Gibbs told Torres.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Aww, come on, man. What'd I do this time? I swear I've been staying away from anyone in a uniform," Fish whined when he saw Torres.

Torres grinned at him. "What, no 'hi how are ya, Nicky?' And here I thought we were best buds," he said, pouting.

"Is that what you call it? Last time I was here, it took me a week to get the stains out of my underwear because of you," Fish shot back. "What do you want this time?"

"Not you, that's for sure," Torres said, laying a photograph of Fish and Dr. Marks on the table. "We want your dealer."

"What do I get out of it?" Fish demanded.

"Not getting busted for having the stuff on you in the first place?" Torres asked. "We just want this guy, and that means setting up a little tea party with a few extra eyes."

"And you'll let me off the drug charges?" Fish demanded.

"This time, yeah," Torres said. "Sorry, Fish, but we got bigger fish to fry, and you're just a little minnow compared to the great big shark we're after."

Fish didn't look too happy about that, as evidenced by the way he folded his arms across his chest. "And if he shoots me, then what?"

"Then we get him for your murder, and you get a pretty nice little plot of land to spend the rest of eternity in."

Fish eyed him. "I want to be facing the sunrise, and not in the same place as all those other guys."

"We can do that," Torres said, already thinking of quite a few places he could stick Fish's cremated remains, and not all of them were in a cemetery. _Like the bottom of the nearest river,_ he thought. _How's that for not being in the same place as all those other guys?_ "But if you screw this up, the only thing that's going to happen to your remains is they will be in the nearest fireplace, and that's if you're lucky."

"And if I'm not?"

"I'd really hate to pollute the river," Torres said. Fish gulped at the hidden meaning. "You give us your dealer, specifically this guy, I don't bury you alive and you get to live another day. You don't, and this goes sideways, not only will I bury you alive, I'll personally make sure you dig your own grave while I'm at it." And he gave Fish his meanest tough-guy look.

Torres left the room, laughing, a few minutes later. Fish had made a call and Dr. Marks had agreed to meet him for a buy at the regular location in about an hour. Gibbs and Cooper would be watching but remain hidden, as Dr. Marks had met them prior. However, on scene would be Sergeant Fairchild and Duncrest for CID, and McGee and Bishop for NCIS, as Torres would make Fish too nervous and possibly blow their cover, but he would be hidden and watching. Fish, himself, was nearby, waiting at what he called his usual spot, and he was hooked up to both a camera and a recorder. His instructions were simple; make the buy and ask if Dr. Marks was going to keep doing this, as he knew someone who was looking for what Dr. Marks was selling, and then get out of the area and back to Torres.

As for Sloane and Sky, Sloane was taking Sky shopping for some badly needed clothes and personal items. As soon as Dr. Marks was caught, Sky and Makana would be on the next available flight out of DC and straight to Oahu, even if that meant a military flight. Neither federal agency was taking the chance that Dr. Marks might retaliate against Skylar, either directly or through one of his so-called buddies.

"You know, this is a very nice little luncheon area," McGee said to Bishop. "Might come here again, after all this is over, with Deliah and the twins."

"Sounds like a good idea," Bishop said, savoring her coffee. "Their menu looks decent enough, and I'm hungry."

" _How's our mutual friend doing? I understand she was shot at?_ " Cooper asked over the radio.

" _Ducky said she's got a cracked chest bone, and a whole lotta bruises, but she's okay,_ " Torres said from his position.

"She's a tough lady," Duncrest said. "Takes a lot of guts to be willing to do what she's done and still be willing to keep doing it."

"She wants to open her own vet clinic to serve low income families, just like this guy does on _Dr. Jeff Rocky Mountain Vet_ ," Bishop said.

" _I wish her well_ ," Cooper said. " _And I'm not wishing this guy well. Heads up; company's coming._ "

Sure enough, Dr. Marks was heading right for a table in the luncheon.

" _Fish, you're on_ ," Gibbs said.

Fish moved in, and quickly approached Dr. Marks. "Hey man, how's it going?" he asked, offering his hand, which also had the money hidden in it.

"I'm good, I'm good. And you?" Dr. Marks asked, shaking Fish's hand with a barely concealed look of disgust on his face.

"Been better these days. Listen, man, a buddy of mine, he wants to know if you're gonna keep with the stuff because he's looking to buy," Fish said.

Dr. Marks shrugged. "Hard to say at this point. Things are getting a bit hot here, so I might have to pull up stakes and move to a cooler climate."

"I hear ya, man, I hear ya. Thanks anyway," Fish said.

"Oh, by the way, friendly warning; if certain people were to find out about our mutual business, well, it wouldn't be very good, now, would it?" Dr. Marks said, smiling.

"What business?" Fish asked. "My only business is staying alive."

"And that's the way it should be," Dr. Marks said. "Have a nice day."

"You too, man," Fish said, backing away and quickly leaving the area. As soon as he was out of sight of Dr. Marks, Gibbs gave the order.

"Move in," he said. "Torres, get the gear off of Fish and get him out of here."

A chorus of "Moving in"'s reached Gibbs ears, and Torres said, " _Got him and getting the gear now_."

"Dr. Marks," Cooper said, going over to the table the doctor was sitting at, and sitting down casually.

"Staff Sergeant Cooper," Dr. Marks said coldly. He glanced up at Gibbs, who sat down across from him. "I see you brought your lackey."

Both men chuckled. "Yeah, about that, Doc, we kind of have a bit of a problem," Cooper said. "You see, we secured a warrant for your house, and my people are currently tearing it apart. I'm betting we're going to find the gun that you used to murder Private Cameron with. We will also find the gun that you used to try and kill Skylar Raven with."

"I didn't do anything," Dr. Marks said calmly.

Gibbs laughed and accepted the phone McGee handed him, which was displaying the video they had gotten from Skylar's camera from the night before.

" _Fine. There's just one little thing, Skylar. You don't like being threatened. Well, neither do I_ ," came Dr. Marks' voice from the video.

" _And just what are you going to do with that damn gun of yours?_ " Skylar demanded.

" _You're right; I am dealing drugs. My wife likes a certain lifestyle, and I've discovered that so do I. And if that means dealing with low-lifes who can't stay away from the kind of garbage that the drugs I have offer, well, that's no skin off my nose. They'll be dead one way or another. As for you, you stupid bitch, you'll be joining them_."

And the gun fired.

"We have you for attempted murder," Gibbs said, watching as Dr. Marks face went a bit pale.

Duncrest handed Cooper a video she'd just gotten from Torres. "And we have you for the drug dealing," Cooper said, studying the video. "Very nice picture of you."

"Now, I don't know how well the attempted murder charge will stick," Gibbs said, leaning forward and lacing his fingers together, "but with regards to Dr. Yun and Private Cameron, oh I think we can make something stick, don't you, Sarge?" he asked Cooper.

"I look forward to it," Cooper said, smiling coldly at Dr. Marks. "The way I see it, right now, is you can do this one of two ways. You can either come with us quietly and peacefully and we can avoid all sorts of public embarrassment, or we can have you arrested right here, right now, and everyone, and I do mean _everyone_ , will know just what kind of garbage you really are." He reached behind him and held up a pair of cuffs. "Your call."

"I want a lawyer," Dr. Marks said.

"You're gonna need one," Cooper said, standing up. "You're under arrest for murder, attempted murder, selling and possession of illegal narcotics, possession of illegal narcotics with intent to distribute, theft of restricted narcotics, and I'm pretty sure we can add arson to that list. Get up and put your hands behind your back." As Cooper cuffed Dr. Marks, who was looking none too happy with life, he continued. "I do believe I told you what CID's motto was."

"Do What Has To Be Done," Fairchild said.

"And we did," Duncrest said.

"And we will keep doing so," Cooper said. "Let's go."

 _A day later:_

"Dr. Marks is being charged in connection to your husband's death," Gibbs told Kayoko Yun, Dr. Yun's wife. He and Sky were at Dr. Yun's funeral, where he was being cremated, in accordance to his final wishes. It was one of the last things Sky wanted to do before she left for Oahu with her new name and new life.

Kayoko nodded. She was dressed in a black dress suit, and her two sons, Chan-woo and Jong-hyuk, were beside her. Both boys were trying to look strong and emotionless, as per their cultures, but it was obvious they were hurting.

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you for everything."

Sky pulled back a corner of her black dress shirt, showing a new tattoo on the left side of her chest; a group of cherry blossoms on a branch with some petals flying away. "This is in his memory," she explained. "He loved the blossoms, and said he always looked forward to when they bloomed."

"It's beautiful," Kayoko said, her eyes misting. "Will you be here for the trial?"

Both Gibbs and Sky shook their heads. "There won't be a trial," Gibbs explained. "He confessed; there was too much evidence against him and if he tried to take his chances with a trial, he would lose and he would be subjected to even worse humiliation than he already was, and he knew it."

"I see," Kayoko said.

"Do you know why he wanted our father dead?" Chan-woo asked.

"Hatred. Pure and simple hatred," Gibbs explained. "Your father was a good doctor, a good man, and a good officer, and he wasn't born in America, and Dr. Marks couldn't stand that."

"Seems to be a lot of that going around," Jong-hyuk said bitterly.

"There is," Gibbs said. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know," Jong-hyuk admitted. "Right now, I'm trying not to be angry, but…"

"So be angry," Sky said. "Be angry, be sad, be whatever it is that you feel, as long as you don't let that anger control you and have you doing stupid things, like lashing out at innocent people, even if they are idiots like Dr. Marks."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Jong-hyuk asked bitterly. "Let it go? Pretend it doesn't hurt?"

"No. But if you start lashing out at people who don't like you for your nationality or your skin or your eyes, or even who you choose to bounce the mattress with, then you're going to prove them right," Sky said. "You can't change what people will think; I get plenty of that, trust me. But what you can do is change the conversation. Be the kind of person you think your dad would have liked. I know he was pretty proud of you guys for who you are now." She smiled and shrugged. "If I was gonna remember him, I'd remember him for his kindness. He was always kind, didn't matter if it was a person or an animal. I'm not Army, but he was kind to me, and he always had something to teach, and that's what I'm gonna remember the most. The guy who killed him," again she shrugged, "he's not worth remembering. The only thing I'm going to remember about him is that he was a jerk and he was instrumental in taking away a bit of good in this world. That's going to catch up to him; always does."

"Do you really believe that?" Jong-hyuk asked.

Sky smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I do, and I'm going to keep believing that, because that's what's going to keep me moving forward."

Gibbs looked at Sky, and thought, _And somehow, I believe you. You'll be just fine._

 _Two weeks later:_

"Why are we here?" Detective Danny Williams asked, as Commander Steve McGarrett led the way into what looked like a veterinary clinic, with Eddie the former drug-dog-turned Five-0 dog on a leash.

"Want to check in on someone. Protected witness DC NCIS sent us, want to see how she's doing," McGarrett explained, after he checked in with the receptionist.

"A protected witness? And you're checking up on her personally? Since when?" Danny demanded.

"Since I got the file two weeks ago and haven't had time to catch up to her," Steve said. "Besides, it never hurts to make friends with a vet, especially with Eddie."

Danny grinned at him. "And you're sweet on her."

"I am not! It's simple professional courtesy!" Steve shot back. "NCIS asked us to keep an eye out for her, make sure she's safe and doing okay."

"And you couldn't have sent, I dunno, Junior or Tani to do that?" Danny shot back.

"They don't have pets," Steve reminded him. "We have Eddie here."

Before Danny could fire something back, they were called into an exam room, where they were greeted by a woman with a shaved head, a seahorse tattoo in one ear, and in colorful scrubs, a stethoscope around her neck.

"Hi there. I'm Abalone Seymour. Is this Eddie?" the woman asked, crouching down to cuddle with the wagging dog.

"That's right. I'm Commander Steve McGarrett and this is Detective Danny Williams, Hawaii Five-0," Steve said, shaking her hand when he offered it. "How've you been settling in, _Skylar_?" he asked gently.

The woman froze when she heard the name, but relaxed a bit when both men showed her their badges.

"I'm doing okay. Climate's taking a bit of adjusting, but I'm doing okay," Abalone said. "What do you know?"

"I know you're a witness to the murder of an Army officer caused by a Marine but orchestrated by another Army officer, and said officer is currently in jail but both CID and NCIS had concerns he might try and come after you because he was also dealing and had apparently made a few friends who owed him a few favours," Steve said. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a business card. "If you ever need anything, even if it's just someone to talk to, you can call me," he said, writing his personal cell phone number on the back, before giving her the card.

She hesitated. "Do you know anyone, like counselor-type, who can be trusted with these kinds of things? Agent Daniels, my contact here, said I couldn't talk about it to anyone, and he pretty much emphasized that word, but the problem is, the nightmares ..."

"I know someone, and she's a trauma counselor and she can be trusted," Steve said, pulling out his phone and looking up a contact. "Her name is Amy, and she's fantastic. I'll put her in touch with you, because you shouldn't have to deal with what happened alone."

"Sounds like agent Daniels is a bit of a jerk," Danny said.

"He's, I dunno, maybe a bit resentful? I dunno," Abalone said. "Anyway, I will keep this in mind, and in the meantime, let's take care of this fine example of a dog," she said, turning her attention to Eddie. She lifted him up on to the table and started checking him over. "You are a handsome beast, you are, and you are in fantastic shape. Your coat, aww, thank you," she cooed when Eddie covered her in dog kisses.

And Danny grinned at Steve, who was watching Abalone and he privately bet anything anyone would like that his partner was wishing Abalone would pay attention to him the way she was with Eddie.

Before they left, Steve quietly told Abalone, "When you're with us, you're safe. No one will hurt you when you're around me. I promise you. You have a friend, if you need it."

And she smiled at him.

 _Four months later:_

"I distinctly recall you telling me that when I was around you, no one would hurt me, that I was safe," Abalone snarled at Steve, shaking the dust out of her hair from the plaster around the walls.

"You're still alive, aren't you?" Steve shot back, brushing off the plaster from his tactical vest.

"You're not going to be if I get my hands on a scalpel, you walking netherandral!" Abalone shot back.

 _To be continued… maybe._


End file.
